A Housing Remedy for Painfully Slow Disaster Recovery: Modularity and Sustainability.
Modular homes offer a faster, more affordable, and eco-friendly solution for disaster recovery than traditional construction methods.
When disaster strikes, and relief is slow to come, housing needs to find ways to keep up.
What we’re talking about:
A modular home is a type of house that is built in sections or pieces in a factory, which are then transported to the site and put together like a big puzzle. It's like building a house using pre-made parts instead of constructing it all from scratch on location — which makes it cheaper, faster, and less wasteful. Enable it to generate its own energy, and you have an eco-friendly and quickly-deployable housing solution for an unstable, changing world.
Flames are engulfing Southern California. More than 12,000 people in Los Angeles have lost their homes, adding to tens of billions of dollars in damages. In nearby communities under threat, power shut-offs only add to the discomfort and fear created by red flag warnings.
For those who lose their homes, it’ll take years to return to home ownership and any sense of normalcy. Disaster recovery can be slow-going. While FEMA can provide temporary relief, research shows that money from the Department of Housing and Urban Development — which provides the needed dollars to rebuild homes in the aftermath of disasters — can take, on average, two years to become available for use after disaster hits.
The clock is ticking on climate change, and fires and floods are only becoming more common.. Sticking to the status quo is not going to save us. Continuing business-as-usual is not an option.
In response, housing needs to evolve. People need safety and stability, and the slow, costly, and unsustainable traditional methods of construction and energy management are not going to cut it.
And, as it turns out, we don’t need some magical, wave-of-a-wand solution (despite how nice that sounds). No, we already have the building blocks — clean energy sources, cheaper and quicker construction methods, and reusable, eco-friendly materials, to name a few.
Imagine if we used those building blocks to construct a house.
Hardened Homes
No one wants a wildfire in their backyard. But as wildfires become more common, preparing for one becomes common sense. Housing needs this kind of built-in preparation and prevention. It needs to be able to live and breathe on its own, so to speak.
Modular construction can lend a hand to home hardening, or improving a home’s ability to withstand wildfire through fire-resistant building materials and design practices. Homes can become more resilient against ignition from embers, radiant heat, and direct flame contact. Think insulated, prefabricated panels designed to be fire resistant and fast to install. Or built-in interior and exterior sprinkler systems. Or fireproof skirting and raised foundations for preventing ember access.
With these elements (and more) baked into home construction, families in wildfire-prone areas can achieve at least some peace of mind.
But even without flames right outside your door, fires disrupt. Right now, communities in Southern California are experiencing fire weather warnings — which come with power shutoffs from regional providers to prevent sparks from the electrical grid starting a wildfire.
What happens when the power goes out? When you can’t cook? When opening the refrigerator door puts your milk at risk? When the lights are not coming back on for hours? When you need to charge your phone and get in contact with loved ones?
In situations like these, a home needs access to off-the-grid energy. Clean energy sources such as solar panels, and energy storage solutions (i.e. batteries), can alleviate reliance on the grid and provide a backup in times of emergency.
Through modular construction, fireproofing and cleaner energy can be built into homes in less time and for less money. People shouldn’t wait until the flames are right outside their door. Prevention and preparation can start now.
Quick Deployment
In the aftermath of disasters, when thousands may be displaced from their homes, a quick and affordable solution can make the difference between housed and homeless.
For people displaced from Los Angeles, it will likely take years for them to return to any sense of normalcy, or “home” — a feeling that is all too familiar in Lahaina, Maui.
In August of 2023, when wildfires ripped through neighborhoods in Lahaina, more than 12,000 people found themselves without longterm shelter. Before the fire, Maui was already facing a housing crisis, and the majority of what burned was the island’s already-scarce affordable housing. To this day, many displaced residents remain homeless.
Families are living in tents, hotels, or cramped apartments as they deal with the red tape of the recovery process. Rising costs of traditional construction, coupled with permitting delays, make the journey back to a “home” longer and more costly.
To help facilitate the move to permanent housing, the state and federal government secured contracts for 1,300 housing units and initiated the construction of modular homes. But that was not reported until April, 2024 — eight months after the wildfires ravaged the island.
This process for homeowners to regain housing after a disaster can take several months to years. Temporary housing assistance, on the other hand, can be provided within weeks.
Modular housing presents an extra-streamlined path to getting a roof over someone’s head while they wait for a more permanent home.
A modular temporary Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) — a little house — in the backyard can provide immediate housing. It’s a swift and inexpensive way to keep people out of hotels and tents while their home is being rebuilt. In the wake of the LA fires, California Governor Gavin Newsom has issued an executive order to expedite the approval of such temporary housing solutions, streamlining the process for homeowners.
Families can then comfortably stay on their property, monitor the rebuilding process of their home, and when it is complete, enjoy the ADU as a guest house or rental.
New Solutions for Natural Disasters
As natural disasters, such as wildfires, increase in frequency, recovery solutions need to keep up to keep people safe and sheltered. Traditional methods of construction, frankly, will not work.
The people displaced from their homes in LA deserve a roof over their heads. A roof that does not cost an arm and a leg. A roof that makes them feel safe. A roof that does not take years to rebuild.
There is a solution on the horizon. Modular homes that can withstand fires can be built quickly, affordably, and sustainably, without wasting resources — embodying prevention and preparation. Permanent residences can be hardened against such destruction. Temporary units can spring up quickly in the aftermath.
It’s time to stop thinking about the future and start building it. Learn more at http://ikkonic.com/fire-recovery