FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Michael Turner
The Silver Lining Foundation
9600 Escarpment Blvd 745-48
Austin, TX 78739
512-646-0691
mturner@silver-lining-foundation.org
www.silver-lining-foundation.org
PRIVATE CITIZEN STEPS FORWARD AS THE AGENT FOR CHANGE AND IS OFFERING TO OVERHAUL THE WAY DISASTER HOUSING IS HANDLED IN THE UNITED STATES
Austin, Texas, Sunday, January 25, 2009.
On January 23, 2009, The Silver Lining Foundation began putting homeless disaster victims into former FEMA travel trailers to demonstrate effectiveness of an alternative to FEMA’s system for providing housing to disaster victims. These disaster victims had been wrongfully identified by FEMA as ineligible for assistance. The former FEMA travel trailers included virtually new units that had been labeled and disposed of as scrap by FEMA.
View video documentary at: http://www.silver-lining-foundation.org/The_Cameron_Initiative.html
View local news article at: http://www.silver-lining-foundation.org/FEMA_drops_the_ball.html
View related videos at: http://www.silver-lining-foundation.org/Trailer_Giveaway.html
and http://www.silver-lining-foundation.org/The_Ricky_Guillory_Story.html
The Silver Lining Foundation hopes that this small demonstration will bring attention to the failures of the current system by which FEMA provides disaster housing while offering a more cost effective and human alternative. The current system is costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year more than it should, taking longer to implement than is acceptable by any human standard, making disaster victims suffer unnecessarily, and impeding the recovery of areas that have suffered natural disasters.
In place of the current system, The Silver Lining Foundation is promoting strategies that will save tax payers money, provide both immediate and long-term housing solutions to victims of natural disasters, and help individuals and organizations to take a more active role in guiding the process of rebuilding communities and recovering from natural disasters. With these strategies a zero could potentially be dropped from both the cost and time that it is currently taking FEMA to manage and implement disaster housing solutions.
THE SILVER LINING FOUNDATION—TRANSFORMING THE FUTURE OF DISASTER HOUSING
The Silver Lining Foundation is a nonprofit organization that was founded with the mission of transforming the way that disaster housing is provided in the United States. The organization was founded by Michael Turner, who saw the limitations of the current system through his three and a half years of experience providing disaster housing in conjunction with FEMA. As the managing partner of a number of companies that are involved in the manufactured housing and RV industry, Turner has firsthand experience of the many shortfalls of and problems with the current system. He established The Silver Lining Foundation out of his concern for the unmet housing needs of disaster victims. Based upon his business experience and his experience with both disaster victims and those who live in manufactured home communities, Turner recognized that there were better and more cost effective solutions to these problems--solutions that could serve more people more quickly, at a much lower cost to the taxpayer, while providing disaster victims with better options and longer-term solutions.
PROBLEMS WITH THE CURRENT SYSTEM OF PROVIDING DISASTER HOUSING
When citizens of the United States lose their housing in a natural disaster, FEMA steps forward to provide housing assistance during the recovery process. This assistance comes in the form of vouchers, rental assistance, and FEMA provided manufactured housing units. The actual work of providing housing is done through contracts with large companies that are removed from communities and people needing assistance. Unfortunately, this system has not worked in the face of disasters such as hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike.
Under the current system, FEMA’s involvement goes far beyond just placing victims in disaster housing. FEMA’s involvement includes controlling and paying for every part of the disaster housing process—a process that ranges from identifying those people for whom disaster is appropriate to paying for all ongoing disaster housing expenses including the purchase, delivery, maintenance, removal, and storage of manufactured housing units. In effect, FEMA becomes a long-term landlord and caretaker, assuming responsibility for housing and maintaining control over the lives of disaster victims. In the case of FEMA provided manufactured housing units, for example, FEMA not only purchases the units, but pays for all other disaster housing expenses--including lot rent, electricity, water, sewer, natural gas, lawn care, maintenance, insurance, and taxes. FEMA incurs this responsibility for up to 18 months, and in many cases much longer, and FEMA does so at an extraordinary cost to the taxpayers of the United States. Despite this seeming generosity on the part of the government, disaster victims have no control over their housing, adding further unpredictability to their already shattered lives and limiting any possibility for managing and taking care of their own recovery. Furthermore, at the end of the disaster period, many disaster victims are once again homeless when the government removes the units to storage lots where these homes are left to waste away—at a cost greater than the units are worth.
The actual work of setting up disaster housing is managed by large companies who get government contracts to move, set up, maintain and then uninstall disaster housing units. This has made disaster housing in the United States a very lucrative business for a few large companies at the expense of tax payers while providing relatively limited benefits to those most affected by disasters. The vast majority of the companies contracted with the government to perform these services do nothing more than subcontract the work to other companies...who then subcontract to other companies...who subcontract to other companies. Somewhere down the line (which can be many layers deep) a low-paid individual or company actually performs the work.
Between FEMA and contracting companies, decision-making about disaster housing is taken out of the hands of those people and organizations with the most knowledge and the greatest motivation to solve the problems of disaster recovery. Unlike FEMA or the companies contracted by FEMA, it is local governments, nonprofits and other community organizations that see the problems firsthand and are most able to make quick decisions about the needs of communities affected by natural disasters. Unfortunately, local governments, nonprofits, and community organizations don’t have direct control over the resources that would allow these organizations to quickly put people into disaster housing and effectively manage the process of recovery.
CHANGING THE FUTURE OF DISASTER HOUSING IN AMERICA BY ELIMINATING GOVERNMENT ‘LANDLORDING’
In what might initially seem contradictory in terms of the goal of reducing costs, the Silver Lining Foundation is working for a system where housing is not just provided, but given outright to victims as quickly as possible after natural disasters. Rather than installing and maintaining disaster housing for victims for long periods of time, it is far cheaper to install the government provided manufactured housing units in commercial and private sites and then immediately hand over full title and ownership of the units directly to the disaster victims. Although many disaster victims may need help with lot rents and utilities for some time period after a natural disaster, there are enormous cost savings when FEMA no longer has to manage, maintain, and then remove and store manufactured housing units.
By adopting the system proposed by The Silver Lining Foundation—that of giving housing directly to disaster victims—the cost of providing disaster housing would be dramatically reduced, and the long, drawn out process of maintaining and managing disaster housing would be eliminated. More importantly, The Silver Lining Solution puts the majority of disaster victims in a position to 'take it from there' and manage their own recovery. When disaster victims are quickly put into housing that they own and are in control of, they can quickly turn their energies to the process of rebuilding their lives and communities. With ownership of their housing, disaster victims will be more invested in maintaining their homes and redeveloping their communities, and the increased stability and control of their lives will allow disaster victims to focus on the tasks of recovery—fixing their property, looking for jobs, getting their children back into school, and re-establishing connections with family, friends and neighbors.
Although this strategy—that of giving disaster housing directly to victims—will not work for everyone affected by disasters, it will be a faster and dramatically less expensive alternative to the current approach to disaster housing. For most disaster victims the increased control over their lives will allow them to move forward more quickly with their recovery. For those disaster victims with unique needs, additional assistance can be provided.
‘GRASS-ROOTING’ DISASTER HOUSING: TRANSFER CONTROL AND DECISION-MAKING THOSE MOST FAMILIAR WITH THE NEEDS OF COMMUNITIES AFFECTED BY DISASTERS
In the place of the current multi-layered, wasteful system, The Silver Lining Foundation vision is that resources and decision-making power be placed directly in the hands of the people who are most familiar with the problems and challenges facing the communities that have been hit by disasters. The disaster victims and local government and other organizations of the areas that have been impacted by the disaster are the most knowledgeable and the most motivated to recover as quickly as possible. FEMA will still need to provide resources for disaster recovery, but the control and decision-making process about disaster housing should be under the complete direction of local governments, nonprofits, and other community groups. By handing over the control and resources to the ‘locals’ the unique problems facing each area can be handled far more efficiently than the current way of doing things.
From day one of the disaster, individuals and organizations within affected areas can be given the resources and logistical support that will allow these individuals and organizations to take a lead role in process of assessing property damage, identifying needs, and providing housing to those who have lost it. Rather than bring in outsiders to perform eligibility assessments, let those with knowledge of and commitments to local communities be the decision-makers. In contrast to outsiders, community members who live with each other and know each other will be in a better position to determine what is and what is not needed, and who does and does not need disaster housing. With basic guidelines, a system of checks and balances, and policies for enforcement, (see http://www.silver-lining-foundation.org/fraud_bad_bad_bad.html for details) quick and effective decisions can be made that are also fair and equitable.
Rather than awarding outside companies large contracts to perform all aspects of disaster recovery, let community members step forward with their skills, know-how, will and desire to rebuild, and let FEMA focus on the areas that really do require expertise and resources beyond that which is available within the local community. Contracts for recovery should be awarded to local individuals and businesses that are affected by disasters. By adopting this strategy, much needed jobs and money can be directed straight to the people and areas that need it most.
CONNECTING UNUSED RESOURCES WITH UNMET NEEDS: WHAT TO DO WITH THE 200,000 SURPLUS FEMA TRAILERS CURRENTLY ROTTING IN FIELDS AT AN ANNUAL COST OF $100 MILLION TO TAXPAYERS:
The Silver Lining Solution is that surplus FEMA trailers should be given away to people in need housing. Each additional day that that these trailers sit in storage costs the taxpayers money and leaves those who are homeless without housing. A quick and efficient process can be created to transfer ownership to low-income individuals and families, church groups, nonprofits, civic organizations, local governments, etc. This strategy will save taxpayers $100 million per year in storage and maintenance expenses while making these valuable assets available to those who are desperately in need of housing. It is a crime to let these excellent housing units go to waste when there are Americans out there that do not have a place to live.
For more information about The Silver Lining Foundation, visit www.silver-lining-foundation.org or contact Michael Turner at 512-646-0691 or via email at mturner@silver-lining-foundation.org.
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