Factory-Built Housing Industry Partnerships with Catholic Charities, Habitat for Humanity, and Auburn University Architectural Students Putting Gulf Coast Families into New Homes

Arlington, Va., August 25, 2006 – As the first anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina approaches, hundreds of displaced Gulf Coast families are moving forward with their lives again as a result of unique partnerships between the manufactured and modular housing industries and regional housing agencies.

A partnership between Habitat for Humanity, the Auburn University’s College of Architecture, and the Alabama Manufactured Housing Association is bringing new, innovative homes that combine factory-built modules with on-site construction. This homebuilding approach allows recipients to fulfill their “sweat equity” obligations while completing homes in less time and with less volunteer labor.

“Operation Home Delivery” saw its first homeowners take residence in June when Dorinda Crews and her three children moved into their new three-bedroom home in Hale County, Alabama. The contemporary home was designed by Auburn students and faculty to fit with southern architectural styles and to be highly energy efficient. Its two modular components were joined by a great room built on-site by Crews, the students, and volunteers from the Hale County chapter of Habitat.

“This is a major part of our initiative in hurricane recovery building,” said Ken Mienert, who heads Habitat’s Gulf Coast program. “The scale of this recovery effort is so large and the availability of local volunteers is not what it needs to be. Modular housing can leverage that labor.” More than 20,000 families in the Gulf Coast region have qualified for Habitat homes due to hurricane damage from Katrina and Rita. Habitat has more than 300 homes under construction and hopes to finish 1,000 by mid-2007.

Another partnership with Providence Community Housing – the Catholic post-Katrina housing initiative in New Orleans – recently saw the first of 196 properties in New Orleans’ Tulane-Gravier and Treme-Lafitte Planning Districts being developed with new modular homes. Two three-bedroom modular homes, with their designs approved by the Preservation Resource Center, were recently set in place on two side-by-side lots. Within two weeks, the homes will be ready for occupancy.

“I don’t believe the healing process can truly begin until we put people back into their own homes or their new homes or apartments,” stated Jim Kelly, president of Providence Community Housing and chief executive officer of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans. “These homes are a wonderful example of what will happen with our 196 properties we are currently working on and additional properties that will become available in later in 2006.”

At the same time, families throughout the Gulf Coast region, such as Mimi and Carl Heitzmann of Bay St. Louis, Miss., are getting their lives back to some sense of normalcy through the purchase of factory-built homes. Carl, a custom home builder, purchased a manufactured home to provide his extended family a place to live while also providing him room for his business operations. “It was just such a tremendous plus for us, a really good decision to help us get our lives back together,” stated Mimi Heitzmann.

A recent “Hurricane Recovery Expo,” sponsored by Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour in Biloxi, Miss. Aug. 11-13, drew 15,000 prospective homebuyers to the three-day event, which included displays of factory-built homes. Gov. Barbour, along with many other state and local officials, have stated that with chronic labor shortages and the tremendous need for new construction, the region needs to rely on homes that are assembled in a factory and can quickly provide permanent housing for tens of thousands of displaced residents. The special “Gulf Coast Housing Initiative,” sponsored by the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) and its National Modular Housing Council (NMHC), has sponsored two educational forums – in Hattiesburg, Miss. and Baton Rouge, La. – which have drawn over 1,000 developers, non-profit organizations, and public housing officials to see first-hand how manufactured and modular homes can quickly provide permanent housing for displaced residents.

“Today’s manufactured and modular homes cover a wide range of architectural styles and amenities for the housing marketplace, with a tremendous flexibility in the kinds of homes it can provide. The factory-building process addresses two continuing challenges in the Gulf Coast – the scarcity of qualified construction employees and of building materials,” said Chris Stinebert, president of the Manufactured Housing Institute and the National Modular Housing Council. “The manufactured and modular housing industries look forward to helping many more people along the Gulf Coast get into their own homes again and move forward with their lives.”

The Manufactured Housing Institute, located in Arlington, Va., is the national trade association for the manufactured and modular housing industries. It and its National Modular Housing Council represents all sectors of the manufactured and modular housing industries, ranging from manufacturers/builders of the homes to retailers who sell homes to the public to financial lenders who finance the purchase of homes.

Additional information, including photos of the Crews’ home and profiles of recent manufactured and modular home buyers, is available from MHI and the NMHC. Contact Bruce Savage at 703-558-0662 or bruce@mfghome.org.