Information to help repair and
rebuild damaged or destroyed homes
Following Hurricane Charley, two of the homes that were
installed for the Charlotte County Homeless Coalition suffered
minor roof damage that was quickly and inexpensively repaired.
RISMEDIA, One week before Hurricane Charley slammed into
Florida's Gulf Coast, three homeless families in Port Charlotte
moved into new manufactured homes, built with the latest
technologies to resist storm damage. With the exception of minor
roof damage in two of homes caused by falling trees, all three
homes survived Charley intact while others homes in the
neighborhood were seriously damaged.
Housing and Urban Development Assistant Secretaries Dennis Shea
and John C.Weicher recently joined representatives from the
National Association of Home Builders and the Manufactured
Housing Institute to showcase the home at 3405 Douglas Road in
Port Charlotte as an example of how advanced building
technologies can create safer, more durable and energy efficient
housing.
"Today we see the proof that HUD's new construction standards
for manufactured housing are creating better and safer homes,"
said Shea. "Working closely with our industry partners, we can
say that properly installed manufactured housing is as safe and
storm resistant as any other new home."
"HUD and the building industry learned several lessons after
Hurricane Andrew," Weicher said. "Today, HUD's new manufactured
building standards are creating homes that are significantly
more hurricane resistant, giving families more peace of mind
that they can weather any storm."
Following Hurricane Charley, two of the homes that were
installed for the Charlotte County Homeless Coalition suffered
minor roof damage that was quickly and inexpensively repaired.
Other homes in the Port Charlotte community experienced much
more significant damage and are still shrouded in blue tarps
awaiting repairs.
We were just so pleased to be able to provide a safe and
affordable home for families with children," said the
Coalition's Connie Thrasher. "After Charley, we can still say
these homes are safe and affordable."
HUD also released new consumer information designed to help
homeowners to repair and rebuild their damaged or destroyed
homes using the latest advanced building technologies (see
attached). In partnership with the housing industry, HUD is
working to improve the safety, quality, durability and
affordability of manufactured homes through these advanced
building technologies. For more information about HUD's
Partnership for Advancing Technologies in Housing (PATH)
Program.
Following Hurricane Andrew in 1994, HUD developed new
construction standards to significantly increase the wind
resistance and structural integrity of manufactured homes.
Today, these new standards along with new technologies such as
"structural insulated panels" and "fiber cement sheathing" are
greatly improving the wind and impact resistance of manufactured
housing. In addition, HUD's new building standards and the
industry's latest innovations are creating energy efficient
homes that are also termite resistant.
Meanwhile, HUD continues to study the performance of newly
installed manufactured homes in real world conditions. Since
Hurricanes Frances, Charley and Ivan, HUD's initial assessment
found the newer on-site and manufactured housing preformed quite
well. Homes fitted with impact resistant windows, reinforced
garage doors and hurricane shutters weathered the recent storms
particularly well. In addition, the Department is studying how
to better improve the performance of roofs. Over the next few
years, HUD will study new roof systems in an effort to make
roofing more disaster resistant, durable and energy efficient.
In Urbana, Illinois, a recently constructed insulating concrete
form home withstood a 1996 tornado with minimal damage. In the
Liberty City area of Miami, several homes built using the
shotcrete technique survived Hurricane Andrew in 1992. In both
cases, neighboring homes were destroyed. |
