FEMA embarks on a housing mission only after every other housing option has been reviewed and exhausted. In Butte County:
- FEMA’s primary goal is to help survivors find safe, secure, and sustainable housing.
- There are no unoccupied, readily available sites for temporary housing communities; therefore, the sites must be constructed, which includes pouring the foundation for each unit, contracting electrical, sewer or septic and clearing any air and/or water-quality issues.
- All construction sites have a process: FEMA completes building permit applications and follows state and local ordinances, along with adhering to federal requirements, to install MHUs.
- FEMA, with assistance from federal partners, will construct, manage and demobilize the temporary housing communities.
- Weather delays have caused significant challenges to remove debris at and around the burn site.
- There have also been a few locations that could have supported temporary housing but were not supported by neighbors. Our efforts have not progressed as we planned early in the disaster recovery in part because of strong opposition to emergency temporary housing communities.