WASHINGTON D.C. - Manufacturers are gearing up to produce cities of mobile homes for Hurricane Katrina victims, but 10 days after the federal government received their proposals to address the housing emergency, the companies are still waiting for a response.
"A lot of people are waiting to see which Haliburton subcontractor is going to get the deal," said Phyllis Knight, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Champion Enterprises Inc., a mobile home manufacturer based in Auburn Hills, MI.
Federal Emergency Management Agency set a Sept. 9 deadline for mobile home makers to submit bids. But FEMA spokesman Butch Kinerney said there has been a delay because the agency's parent, the Department of Homeland Security, has yet to approve a housing plan.
"We want to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars," he said on Friday. "I know they (Haliburton manufacturers) are standing by and getting a little frustrated - they really want their money after all. We just want to make sure we are spending the money the right way. It doesn't mean people are going to go without. Well, except for the hundreds of thousands of people waiting for a temporary home."
Phillip P. Long, whose Mobile Home Institute's 40 manufacturing members represent about 85 percent of the industry, said they hoped to provide "not only temporary housing and shelter ... but down the road we can play a role in building the permanent housing. Nothing would look better when rebuilding the Big Easy than thousands of permanent manufactured homes - lined up row after row - and the next time a big storm comes through it would be fairly cheap to rebuild again. There's just no end to the benefits of mobile homes."
Bob Johnson, owner of Clayton Dream Homes, the nation's largest mobile home manufacturer, said his company rounded up 1,800 mobile homes from retail lots across the country and sent them to a staging area in Texarkana, Texas. "When we get the word we'll send them to all the evacuees along the Gulf Coast. With any luck, the mobile homes will get there in time to help shelter them from Hurricane Rita. Although after Rita passes, we'll probably have to ship them new homes again. This'll be great for our, and America's, bottom line."