T building will basically become a homeless shelter

From the Queens Courier:

A development company has signed a 99-year lease with the city to turn the historic T-Building into a 205-unit apartment building that will include housing for patients at a nearby hospital, many of whom are homeless.

“These are people that literally cannot leave the hospital because there is not appropriate housing to discharge them to,” said Michael Dunn, president of Dunn Development Corp, the company that received the lease from the city.

Speaking at a meeting with Community Board 8 members on Wednesday, Dunn continued, “The idea is to serve people whose housing instability or lack of housing impacts their health.”

Dunn Development Corp. signed a 99-year lease with the city to develop the T-Building on Queens Hospital Center’s campus into 205 apartments. As part of the deal, Dunn will not destroy the old Hillcrest tuberculosis center, but the company will embark on a major $12 million renovation to turn the former medical building into apartments.

Emergency housing for storms, not the homeless

From Brick Underground:

My first impression of the three-bedroom on the edge of Brooklyn Heights? It’s airy and light, 800 square feet, with a view of the Manhattan Bridge and One World Trade Center to boot. Somewhat sparsely furnished, it’s outfitted in a crisp, unfussy style that’s modern without being cold. In short, it’s the opposite of what I’d expect to live in if, say, a tornado had just leveled my apartment building.

But that’s exactly what it is: a prototype of an urban post-disaster shelter that could become New York’s answer in the event of another Hurricane Sandy.

For the last week, Jim McConnell, an assistant commissioner for strategic data in the city’s Office of Emergency Management, and his husband, Joe Hickey, have been acting as guinea pigs, living in the place and recording their observations. Another 30 OEM staffers have signed up to do the same.

Why all the testing? The problem is that in a place as densely populated as New York, other types of post-disaster housing, like the infamous FEMA trailers used in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, don’t work—particularly if victims of a hurricane, tornado, earthquake or explosion have to live in the place for a year or more until permanent housing is built. No, in New York City, we need multi-story accommodations that mimic our full-time abodes.

The prototype, situated on a city-owned lot next door to OEM’s headquarters, is a three-story building with an apartment on each floor: a 500-square-foot one-bedroom on the ground floor, an 800-square-foot three-bedroom on the second floor, and a 500-square-foot one-bedroom on the third floor.

The structure took a mere two days to put up, but it’s built to last for 50 years and can be moved to different sites. As many as 20 of them can go up on a single lot, preferably close to affected neighborhoods so disaster victims can stay close to transit and schools. This past April, the prototype was trucked to the city and constructed at a cost of $1.5 million. (The price should come down if and when it’s mass produced.)

Shouldn't these be built now to alleviate the emergency homeless crisis, and not shelved for 100-year storms? Oh wait, we sold all the city owned land for $1 to developers of luxury condos. Never mind.

Ain't no wave strong enough...

From the NY Post:

The city is moving closer to getting emergency housing with the selection of a three-story, three-unit prototype — complete with balconies — that will soon be erected next to the Office of Emergency Management in Brooklyn.

The prototype includes two, 822 square-foot three-bedroom units on the upper two floors, and one 480 square-foot one-bedroom handicapped accessible apartment on the ground floor — still far larger than the city’s 250-to-370 square-foot permanent Micro Units.

We’ve learned the mini-complex — designed by Garrison Architects of Brooklyn for American Manufactured Systems and Services of Vienna, Va. — was selected this month for the $1,135,147 contract by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

FEMA can't handle housing displaced victims

From Eyewitness News:

There is little to no temporary housing for thousands of people who can't live in their homes after Sandy.

While FEMA has approved thousands of people for rental assistance, the supply of available apartments does not come close to matching the demand.

And, 15 days into this recovery, the agency that stumbled so badly during Katrina is still without a concrete housing plan.

FEMA's slow housing response in the aftermath of Sandy was forewarned in this Congressional investigation following Katrina.

It faulted FEMA for lacking ''clear guidance on specific temporary housing options" and warned that without those guidelines, future "disaster victims (would be) at risk of not receiving temporary housing as quickly as possible."

"We concluded that they had not fully implemented our recommendations," said Dan Garcia-Diaz, of the Government Accountability Office.

The head of that 2009 investigation says FEMA has yet to come up with the temporary housing guidelines.

"To the extent that those recommendations have not been implemented and incorporated into their operations, certainly FEMA will experience challenges," Garcia-Diaz said.

Sure enough, 15 days into the recovery, FEMA still seems to have few solutions to finding temporary housing for tens of thousands of storm victims, especially in Staten Island.