Community Development and Revitalization Division Alternate Housing Study Phase 2

For The Texas General Land Office

Disaster Recovery Alternate Housing Study

Responsive post-disaster housing strategies are increasingly necessary in our new climate normal. As part of the Texas General Land Office - Community Development and Revitalization Disaster Recovery Alternative Housing Study team, UltraBarrio worked to create a guidebook for the evaluation, procurement, and testing of alternative post-disaster housing prototypes. 

Clearly defined metrics that are capable of accurately and proportionately communicating a given housing prototype’s success are a critical feature of the Study. Ultimately, the five performance metrics that will inform the procurement of alternative post-disaster housing prototypes in Texas are: resilience, timeliness, cost, livability, and range of use. 

Post-disaster housing strategies that fail to consider building codes present challenges both to deployment as well as to permanent housing potential. The Study identifies code thresholds that mark both the minimum requirements for performance, as well as the target areas where they should exceed those requirements. Building codes are considered at the national, state, and local level. 

‘The research contributes towards neighborhood resilience and creates opportunities for invention.’

From the assembly line to the site, a methodology developed through the Study will be used to evaluate constructability across alternative housing prototypes. A unit’s materials, necessary labor, site adaptability, construction technology, durability, and so on inform its potential as functional post-disaster housing. 

A user survey for livability will garner feedback from residents of existing alternative housing prototypes. Residents have access to a unique body of qualitative knowledge about the units they occupy. Their understanding about what in the unit makes it comfortable—and uncomfortable—provides a lens to how future disaster survivors and program beneficiaries may feel if they are provided such a unit after a disaster.