BATON ROUGE, La. — More than 1,000 households have made strides in their recovery and moved out of FEMA Manufactured Housing Units (MHUs) to more permanent housing. At the height of the housing program after the August 2016 flood, more than 4,600 eligible households were licensed into MHUs.
East Baton Rouge, Livingston and Ascension parishes account for a majority of households in MHUs. At this time, about 3,500 households are living in MHUs while they work toward a permanent housing plan.
MHUs were provided as a last-resort temporary housing solution by FEMA at the request of the state if no other housing options were available. Survivors may be eligible to stay in an MHU for up to 18 months—until February, 2018—if they continue to work on their long-term housing plans.
Recertification teams with Individual Assistance (IA) meet regularly with applicants in all MHUs to review the applicant’s housing plan. Currently, 72 percent of flood survivors are on track with permanent housing plans. The FEMA MHU license agreement requires applicants to work toward a personal long-term recovery plan that includes searching for long-term housing options or making repairs on their flood-damaged homes. All applicants living in MHUs, whether on private lots, or in commercial or group sites, must actively seek permanent housing.
