Regional Disaster Housing Prototype + Planning (HGAC / Back Home)
Location: Houston-Galveston Area
Client: Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC)
Funding: Hurricane Ike HUD Community Block Development Grant for Disaster Recovery (CBDG-DR)
Modular Contractor of Record: Tegrity Homes & Oak Creek Homes
Project Type: Gulf Coast hurricane-ready deployable housing prototype
Designer: Dr. Jessica April Ward (Schleifer)
The H-GAC "Back Home" initiative is a disaster recovery pilot program designed to quickly provide permanent, modular housing following natural disasters, including hurricanes. It tests modular technologies for rapid deployment, with past initiatives including 20 pilot homes in Harris and Galveston counties. The program focused on testing the feasability of durable, hurricae-ready, high-performance, expandable "core" units.
The project balances neighborhood continuity with high-performance building strategies. Community feedback consistently emphasized the importance of homes that felt familiar, permanent, and compatible with the surrounding context, while still delivering meaningful upgrades in resilience, energy efficiency, indoor comfort, and long-term operating performance.
Program Goal: To provide immediate, permanent housing alternatives to traditional temporary disaster housing, allowing residents to return to their communities faster.
Modular Approach: Homes are designed in phases, allowing a "core unit" (kitchen, bath, living area) to be deployed first, with additional bedrooms added later.