When designing a post-disaster temporary shelter that houses people for a period of time, it is imperative that the designer consider what social interactions can occur in a shelter village setting. When these kinds of things are rushed, due to unpreparedness, various elements get overlooked, due to lack of time. One of these elements happens to be the necessary exterior lighting to create a safe environment at night. Due to this lacking element in most FEMA trailer parks, most inhabitants were scared to leave the safety of their porches.
Image 1 - The lack of night time lighting makes the inhabitants of FEMA villages afraid to leave their porches
In December 2010, The Times-Picayune reported that there are still 227 FEMA trailers being used in New Orleans. Most residence moved back into their houses once they were renovated. However, that was not the case with 71 year old Fred Kron. Due to his older age, he was on a fixed income and could not afford to do any renovations to his damaged house for eighteen months after Katrina made landfall. In addition, after those eighteen months, the renovations were very minimal. “This [was] not part of the [American] dream, to look at this trailer,” said Art Traylor, Kron’s 47 year old neighbor.
After a Slidell inspector deemed Kron’s property as “dilapidated,” Slidell’s City Council ordered the removal of the trailer. However, on numerous occasions, city officials have fined Kron due to his property’s condition. However, because of his age, they revoked the fines. Traylor then responded, “[Kron’s trailer] was making the neighborhood look ugly. Everyone else rebuilt. Why couldn’t he” (Vargas, 2010, para. 14). A few months later, officials finally removed Kron’s trailer. He then began to sleep in his car while completing the remaining renovations, and stated, “It’s my driveway, isn’t it” (Vargas, 2010, para. 34).
Image 2 - Fred Kron looking at where his FEMA trailer sat for over five years
After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the surrounding communities, people started receiving FEMA trailers. The problem then shifted, for those who did not own land, to where these shelters would be located. The solution was to develop a trailer style community. However, due to the lack of our country’s preparedness and minimal warning, these villages were viewed by outsiders, as dumps, prisons, and mental health facilities. Within a village, there were four major problems including: drugs, prostitution, robbery, and vandalism. Due to this, the villages were viewed as “a cesspool for criminal behavior” (Lee, 2007, p. 742). Much like the FEMA trailers, the maximum length to stay in a FEMA village is 18 months. Within the average village, there are four social status levels: vertical status (a system based on income), radial status (degree of people’s interaction), cultural status (the culture of the majority), and normative status (responsibility of others) (Lee, 2007).
Image 3 - An example of a FEMA trailer parks fencing in the inhabitants, which is similar to what you would find in a prison.
Louisiana’s largest FEMA village, Renaissance Village, was located in Baker, Louisiana. The village, which opened in October 2005, was comprised of 600 trailers and 1,600 inhabitants. On April 24, 2006, Amy Goodman, a Renaissance Village residence, was interviewed by Donna Azeez on her experiences within the village. During the interview, Amy Goodman revealed a number of complications. The more minimal problems included: the smell of sewer throughout the village, bugs, small living quarters, a lack of a landline phone, and village life placing wear and tear on the inhabitants’ mind. The first major problem was the village’s free food program, which fed 1,000 people, being discontinued on April 6, 2006. Therefore, the people from extreme poverty had to use money they did not have on food.
Image 4 - A child holding her little brother in a FEMA trailer park
The second major problem is the lack of amenities and programs to keep young adults occupied. The only amenity the village possessed was a playground located in the back of the village. Due to this, the teenagers turned to violence, gangs, and drugs, which developed the phrase “a cesspool for criminal behavior” (Azees, 2006, para.4). T
he third problem is the village’s monthly rent requirement. Former Renaissance Village resident, Wilbert Ross, described that he left the village, not because he found a better place to live, but because he could not afford the $50 a month for rent, due to the discontinued food program. The last problem is that everything looking similar within the village. Therefore, it is difficult to get around at first. The reason for the confusion is due to the collision of the light grey trailers, the grey gravel roads, and other activities, such as laundry, being located in FEMA trailers.
In all FEMA villages, there are regulations that attempt to minimize their publicity, such as locating the villages away from highly populated areas, surrounding them with fences, and forbidding outsiders to take pictures or conduct interviews within the village fences. Due to this, the interview gave these villages’ the name “FEMA’s Dirty Little Secret” (Azees, 2006).
Text
Azees, D. (2006, April 24). FEMA's Dirty Little Secret: A Rare Look Inside the
Renaissance Village Trailer Park, Home to Over 2,000 Hurricane Katrina
Evacuees. Retrieved Septermber 2, 2010, from http://www.democracynow.org
/2006/4/24/femas_dirty_little_secret_a_rare.
Lee, M. (2007). The FEMA Trailer Parks: Negative Perception and the Social
Structure. AvoidanceSociological Spectrum. 27, 741-766.
Vargas, R. (2010, September 23). FEMA Trailer Divides Neighbors in Slidell. The
Times-Picayune. Retrieved December 28, 2010, from http://nola.com/katrina/
index.ssf/2010/12/fema_trailer_divides_neighborhood.html.
Images
Image 1 - http://www.zimbo.com/pictures/z9AQOe-FXsO/FEMA+Trailer+
Park+Residents+Facing+June+1/VLoe1aWC65g/Jill+Williams
Image 2 - http://slidell-independent.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Fred
Kron1-news.jpg
Image 3 - http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/4264/d3x1318kq7.jpg
Park+Residents+Facing+June+1/VLoe1aWC65g/Brandon+Encalada
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