Habitat for Hurricane Victims

[Spinzonner]

While I personally have concerns about the wisdom of rebuilding New Orleans at the current site, if the decision is made to do so - or even somewhere nearby - I'd hate to see the process get tied up in a massive government subcontracting to the likes of Haaliburton.

It would be nice to see if the homes could be rebuilt or restored by a national Habitat-for-Humanity-like program where home owners of affected properties are joined by volunteers from around the country to rebuild their homes.

Obviously their are all kinds of complex issues involved including design of the homes (much lost housing is of a historic character), financing (of materials), inspection and construction standards, and I'm sure lots of other issues I haven't thought of.

With that many homes and that many neophyte participants, I'm sure Habitat for Humanity doesn't have the resources to manage it, but building professionals could supply the direction and expertise to organize, train, and supervise volunteers.

Without something like this, I'm concerned that the rebuilding of those towns and cities will drag on for years (like parts of Florida), tax the building resources of the country (and drive up delays and costs), and keep thousands and thousands of people in temporary housing for perhaps years (some at government expense), and that the costs to the country will be massively increased.

[madrchsod]

1. habitat could do the job

but the feds won`t allow it...thousands of homes have and could be built by this organization but that would cut out the large political contributers. our local prison has a construction class for the inmates and guess what they build...they build modules for habitat home construction in several areas of illinois.
remember who is one of the national spokesmen-----jimmy carter

[BiggJawn]

2. I'd be afraid to live in a Halliburton-built house.

Damn thing would probably be full of lead paint and asbestos that they've had in storage, looking for a way to get rid of it for money.
Wiring would be sub-standard, and the damn toilet would probably overflow daily....