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BATON ROUGE (AP) - Modular, boxlike homes with add-on porches, changing roof designs and floor plans, and - most importantly - quick assembly. That's the idea behind grant proposals Louisiana submitted to federal officials to replace the cramped quarters of FEMA travel trailers for residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina and the victims of future disasters.The nation's five Gulf Coast states are competing for a pool of $400 million to test and build alternative housing for hurricane victims, a pilot program the Federal Emergency Management Agency hopes can become a model for how to provide fast, temporary or semi-permanent housing after the next tornado in Nebraska, earthquake in Hawaii or hurricane in Louisiana.''Louisiana wants housing for disaster victims. FEMA wants to look at options for future disasters,'' said Jeff Hebert, the Louisiana Recovery Authority's deputy director of planning who worked on the state's alternative housing grant proposal.
BATON ROUGE (AP) - Modular, boxlike homes with add-on porches, changing roof designs and floor plans, and - most importantly - quick assembly. That's the idea behind grant proposals Louisiana submitted to federal officials to replace the cramped quarters of FEMA travel trailers for residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina and the victims of future disasters.The nation's five Gulf Coast states are competing for a pool of $400 million to test and build alternative housing for hurricane victims, a pilot program the Federal Emergency Management Agency hopes can become a model for how to provide fast, temporary or semi-permanent housing after the next tornado in Nebraska, earthquake in Hawaii or hurricane in Louisiana.''Louisiana wants housing for disaster victims. FEMA wants to look at options for future disasters,'' said Jeff Hebert, the Louisiana Recovery Authority's deputy director of planning who worked on the state's alternative housing grant proposal.
A fight over which state agency should regulate modular homes -- considered by many the quickest way to replace the thousands of hurricane-destroyed homes -- has been temporarily resolved with an attorney general's opinion placing regulatory authority with the state contractors licensing board. The argument pits the Louisiana State Contractors Licensing Board against the Louisiana Manufacturing Housing Commission. Modular homes are factory-built structures that are delivered to a lot in components and assembled into a permanent home either on a slab or a raised foundation. Manufactured homes are built on metal chassis with wheels and hauled to the home site in one piece. They are also called mobile homes or trailer homes. While the wheels can be removed and the chassis mounted or tied to a foundation, the law still considers the structure moveable.
Modular, boxlike homes with add-on porches, changing roof designs and floor plans, and - most importantly - quick assembly. That's the idea behind grant proposals Louisiana submitted to federal officials to replace the cramped quarters of FEMA travel trailers for residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina and the victims of future disasters. The nation's five Gulf Coast states are competing for a pool of $400 million to test and build alternative housing for hurricane victims, a pilot program FEMA hopes can become a model for how to provide fast, temporary or semipermanent housing after the next tornado in Nebraska, earthquake in Hawaii or hurricane in Louisiana. "Louisiana wants housing for disaster victims. FEMA wants to look at options for future disasters," said Jeff Hebert, the Louisiana Recovery Authority's deputy director of planning who worked on the state's alternative housing grant proposal.
They missed out on a homecoming dance 40 years ago, but the Gunn High School class of '66 -- and their schoolmates from '67 and '68 -- are making up for it this weekend at a Palo Alto reunion of the school's first three graduating classes. ``We didn't have a senior or junior prom, because no one wanted to go -- which was great for me because none of us knew how to dance,'' said class of '66 member Zoe Lofgren, now a congresswoman from San Jose. ``I didn't have a date anyhow, so it was a great relief not to have that challenge,'' she confided to IA. Friday, some alumni wandered around what was once considered an innovative campus of modular classrooms, and a few of them spoke on a panel about how Gunn had influenced them (a lot, Lofgren said -- she was the first in her family to go to college).
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — A bill that would have changed the residency requirements for Navajo presidential and vice presidential candidates did not receive enough votes to stay alive. The vote count was 36 in favor and 33 opposed during Thursday's Navajo Nation Council fall session. Since the proposed bill would have made changes to Navajo codes, the bill needed 59 votes to pass. Local Council delegates Pete Atcitty, Wallace Charley and Richard Begaye all voted in favor of the measure. Delegates LoRenzo Bates and Ervin Keeswood voted against the measure. According to Title 2 and 11 of the Navajo Nation codes, Navajo presidential and vice presidential candidates must have permanently lived within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation for at least three years. Legislation 0565-06 would have stricken the residency requirements for the candidates completely, according to the proposed legislation.
CARLSBAD Allison Crouch says she's tired of having to move. Twice recently, Crouch and her children have found out their landlord plans to sell the home they had been renting. Rent has been costly, homes are scarce, and each successive search for a new residence has been more difficult. "I'm just having a really hard time," said Crouch, who works at New Mexico State University- Carlsbad. "There are lots of other people like me, I am sure." Rent has skyrocketed to around $800 a month, Crouch said, and she is currently unable to afford or locate suitable lodging for herself and her children. Organizations like Habitat for Humanity and the Department of Housing and Urban Development can only help so many people. "We need some more community awareness about this. I'm not the only one in this situation," she said.
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