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 | Carib Daniel Martin
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For Those Left Homeless by Hurricanes Katrina & Rita - HELP Is Here! Bethesda, MD October 3, 2005 - What help is most important to victims of Hurricane Katrina? “Housing; that’s critical.” asserted Joseph Picciano, of FEMA, on the PBS show NOW. “We need it now.” In response to this dire emergency, HELP is here. After a week of viewing images of people made homeless by hurricane Katrina, Carib Daniel Martin and Rob Bragan decided to use their design and construction skills to help the victims. They developed HELP (Housing Every Last Person), an immediate-response emergency housing system that can be assembled quickly and transported easily to wherever the need arises. Assisted by more than 40 volunteers, Martin and Bragan have built a full-scale prototype of the HELP house. The 8’x12’ house has a fold-up front porch and is fully equipped with a living space containing a folding dining table and chairs, a sofa that converts to a full-size bed, and drop-down twin-size bunk bed. A kitchenette with sink, stove, refrigerator, and storage as well as a private bathroom with a pass-thru shower and toilet complete the interior. A single HELP unit sleeps up to three people, while an alternate double HELP unit sleeps up to six. However, there is more to consider in emergency housing than merely temporary shelter. “It is critical that in our rush to put a roof over people’s heads we don’t create other problems in the process,” stated Martin. “This, unfortunately, is what happens too often with the standard temporary-housing solutions offered today.” HELP minimizes these problems in three important ways. First, due to its relatively small size and efficient use of space and materials, a HELP house drastically reduces the time and money required to manufacture and distribute it. An individual factory-built unit, fully furnished, is projected to cost less than $7,000. This savings allows more material and labor to be focused on rebuilding permanent housing in the stricken area. HELP’s compact size also means that five homes can be placed on a single truck trailer, resulting in extreme savings in transportation costs and fuel consumption. Second, HELP was designed to be placed directly on an individual’s damaged home site. As Bragan pointed out, “If you have room to park a car, you have room for a HELP house.” Newly-created trailer parks such as FEMA City, which was assembled after Hurricane Charley hit Florida last year, are often “a socioeconomic time bomb just waiting to blow up,” said Bob Hebert, director of recovery for Charlotte County, where most FEMA City residents used to live. “You throw together all these very different people under already tremendous stress, and bad things will happen.” [“FEMA’s City of Anxiety in Florida”, Marc Kaufman, Washington Post, 09/17/05] Maintaining a neighborhood’s existing social fabric, as well as allowing greater security while permanent housing is rebuilt, is a key feature to HELP. Third, lifespan issues are carefully considered. HELP is designed to respond to varying existing conditions, such as access to or lack of running water, sewer, and electricity. It can operate self-sufficiently, using a gravity-fed water system, composting toilet, and solar power, and then switch to the area’s infrastructure once it is available. After permanent housing has been re-established, the HELP house can be easily moved to another disaster location; stored in less space than a standard trailer; or placed in a back yard and used as a guest room, studio, or play house. Alternatively, the interior furnishings can be dismantled and installed in the permanent home leaving the shell of the HELP house to be used as a simple storage shed. “Housing has long been held up as a cornerstone of the American Dream but recent hurricanes have awakened the American public to its fragility. We hope to bring the dream back to those victimized by this disaster,” concluded Martin. Carib Daniel Martin is a licensed architect, certified by the Nation Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). He has been working in the architectural and design fields for over fifteen years. He specializes in modern design and has researched mass-produced housing extensively and is currently writing a book on the subject, Mass Production of the American Dream. Rob Bragan has a graduate degree in Environmental Planning. He has worked over two decades on watershed planning and research. He now spends his time renovating homes and building boats. A three-year stint in the Peace Corps, along with volunteer work in Brazil, have kept him and his wife, Lucia, active helping others in need. For information: http://www.helpishere.us or
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