APTIM’s Disaster Response and Recovery team, in partnership with the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP), recently provided shelter to its 1,400th family.
This equates to nearly 4,000 survivors being sheltered since the inception of APTIM’s Louisiana Hurricane Ida Sheltering Program in early October.
In response to the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Ida in Louisiana and the potential for future events, and after receiving federal approval from FEMA, GOHSEP issued an emergency procurement request. APTIM’s Disaster Response and Recovery team was able to develop and propose a thorough plan of action for the Louisiana Hurricane Ida Sheltering Program, that was ultimately selected by GOHSEP on September 24, 2021 with instructions to begin immediately.
Since its inception, the program has been securing appropriate and immediate sheltering for survivors, providing oversight and management of the sheltering options to include Non-Congregate Sheltering (due to the unique circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic), and assisting in the transition to FEMA’s Direct Housing Program as applicable.
APTIM’s scope of work is comprised of three phases: Survivor Services, which includes initiation, outreach, intake, and eligibility of casework services; Temporary Sheltering Solutions, which includes staging management, receipt of inventory, site eligibility and assessments, delivery of solutions to survivors, inventory staging, and ongoing asset maintenance; and Transition, which includes helping survivors transition to Permanent Housing Solutions.
The state managed Louisiana Hurricane Ida Sheltering Program continues to help those affected by the storm get placed in travel trailers as part of their recovery. The state purchased 3,413 trailers as well as developed, implemented, and refined a new FEMA approved program to jumpstart the housing mission for hurricane survivors. The first families received their units within weeks of the program being announced. The speed of installation continues to increase, with an average of 60 trailers being deployed from staging areas and 50 trailers becoming occupied by survivors each day. The goal is to have all the trailers in the new state program deployed by the end of December.
“Once again, APTIM is paving the way to provide emergency temporary sheltering in this first of its kind program. We have assisted the State of Louisiana to remove inefficiencies where possible to expedite sheltering survivors. Any successful program has its bumps, but our team is constantly adjusting, making efficiency changes, and attempting to make the program easy on the survivor. While I’m proud of what we have accomplished thus far, we must continue to focus on APTIM’s primary mission of supporting those that have lost much; the survivors of Hurricane Ida.” stated John Mitchell, APTIM’s program director.
