Draft
State of Florida
Disaster Housing Operations Command
IMPORTANT NOTICE
This document is a draft concept paper describing the Disaster Housing Operations Command (DHOC) and its primary functional or supporting components: the Housing Operations Center, the Disaster Housing Teams, the Housing Planning Section, and the Joint Housing Solutions Center (JHSC).
All parties referenced within have not formally approved the DHOC’s overall design and functions.
The organizational structure proposed is for dealing with disaster with large scale housing impact and post disaster housing needs.
Although many organizations will be invited to provide mission inputs and support to the State’s Housing Recovery Plan, some organizations will opt out of the joint mission and work as a separate entity. In this case every effort will be made to provide a consolidated mission plan to prevent duplication of efforts. The State’s Disaster Housing Team will be tasked with liaison duty to the various organizations involved. (needs rewrite)
This document is a work in progress.
Disaster Housing Operations Command
Table of Content
I. Introduction
II. Synopses
A. Communication & Intelligence
▪ Housing Operations Center (HOC)
▪ Disaster Housing Coordination Teams (DHCT)
B. Strategy & Planning
▪ Housing Planning Section
C. Resource Facilitation: Immediate to Long-Term Housing Resources
▪ Joint Housing Solutions Center (JHSC)
D. Organizational Chart
E. Activation & Staff Mobilization Schedule (D-5 to D+5)
III. Housing Operations Center (HOC)
A. Snapshot
B. Key Personnel: Responsibilities & Qualifications
C. Communication Flows & Procedures
D. HOC Floor Plans
E. Visual-Based Management Tools
▪ Determining FMR Strategy
▪ Coordinating DHOP
▪ Establishing Mission Scope
▪ Developing Mission Timeframe & Performance Goals
F. HOC Tracking Boards
▪ POC
▪ Commercial Parks
▪ Private Sites
▪ Group Sites
▪ PPI
▪ Rental Resources
▪ Shelters
▪ Program Progress
G. Table: Data Sources & Schedule
H. Operating Principles (What Defines Success)
IV. Disaster Housing Coordination Teams (DHCT)
A. Snapshot
B. Key Personnel: Responsibilities & Qualifications
C. Checklist: Daily Tasking & Protocols
D. Templates for Data Collection
▪ Local Requirement Checklist
▪ Environmental Checklist
▪ Site Assessment
▪ Key Questions for Group Site Survey
▪ Commercial Park
▪ IAP
▪ Division Assignment List
▪ DHCT County Contact
E. Operating Principles (What Defines Success)
Disaster Housing Operations Command
Table of Content
V. Housing Planning Section
A. Snapshot
B. Key Personnel: Responsibilities & Qualifications
C. Strategic Housing Plans
▪ Synopsis: Strategic Housing Plans (D+15, +30, +60, +90)
▪ Procedure & Templates
▪ Assessing Disaster Housing Needs
VI. Joint Housing Solutions Center (JHSC)
A. Snapshot
B. Steering Committee Members: Responsibilities & Qualifications
C. Activation & Initial Actions
D. Resource Identification Template
E. Concept (Why is JHSC Necessary?)
F. Potential JHSC Participants
G. Operating Principles for Temporary Housing
VII. Technology
A. Groove (Needs screenshots & instructional excerpts)
VIII. Appendices
A. Comments & Suggestions
Florida Disaster Housing Plan – April 2007
I. INTRODUCTION
The disaster housing mission has been one of the most challenging and controversial tasks faced by the Federal Government and the impacted state and local governments. A major difficulty has been the building of a consensus among all the stakeholders on the scale and scope of the housing mission, what approach and timeframe would be utilized, and what and how resources (especially non-Federally declared ones) could be brought in to support the mission.
Taken lessons learned during the 2004 hurricane season – notably, the success of the Disaster Recovery Center Operations Center at the FLTRO, where key elements within FEMA and from the State jointly and successfully coordinated the DRC mission - it is proposed that a similar organizational concept and structure be adapted to support the housing mission.
Modeled after the DRC Ops Center, a Disaster Housing Operations Command (DHOC) can be utilized to help by establishing and executing a common housing mission among all the stakeholders. Specifically, the DHOC will be organized to create and enhance existing capacities needed to support:
No. / Key Capacities1 / Timely communication of mission-critical information and issues
2 / Formulation of a common strategy for immediate and long-term disaster housing needs
3 / Facilitation of housing resources and additional options to complement those provided by Federal Government and the State
Four organizational components, based on the Incident Command System, will be needed to achieve these three functions:
Key Functions / Organizational ComponentsCommunication & Intelligence / Housing Operations Center
Disaster Housing Coordination Teams
Strategy & Planning / Housing Planning Section
Resources & Options / Joint Housing Solutions Center
Descriptions of how each of these 4 components is organized and operates, staffed and functions, communicates internally and externally with others, and activated and demobilized, will be presented in the chapters within.
It is important to note that this proposed organizational structure will not be about direct housing programs only – although it has a leading role in the disaster housing effort. Rather, the organizational structure is for an integrated approach that can provide disaster victims who lost their homes – temporarily or permanently – a range of options that fit their circumstances and timeframes, and are cost and time-effective to the governments. Key to the approach is a broad-based partnership involving federal, state and local stakeholders, as well as the private and non-profit sectors, which are either the legal representatives of the impacted communities, and/or have authorities, capacities, knowledge, resources, or solutions that are crucial to the housing mission. The intent is to foster consensus and collaboration among the stakeholders with the aim of timely developing a common vision, goal, strategy, process and organization for carrying out the housing mission.
II. SYNOPSES
It is mentioned above that four organizational components will be needed to enhance three vital capacities for establishing and executing a common disaster housing mission. What follows is a summary of each of these 3 areas:
A. Communication & Intelligence
The success of the housing mission will depend on how mission-critical information and issues can be timely collected, confirmed, and circulated in a format and frequency that are readily accessible, consistent, and useful to all key stakeholders. It is proposed here that a Housing Operations Center (HOC) be set up to create a central platform for communicating housing mission information. To be successful at this task, the HOC will be responsible also for establishing and enforcing a common process, standard, and schedule for information gathering and sharing. The HOC will schedule, for instance, when information will be obtained and reported from the field, when it will be transmitted to the State and the JFO planning and operation units for review or actions, and when resolutions for issues will be achieved and responded back to the inquirers.
Physically, the HOC should be set up early and in close proximity to operations. Initially, the HOC will be activated at the State’s EOC with the arrival of the State Disaster Housing Chief. Later, it will be moved to the JFO as the housing operations gear up to support a county’s recovery. The physical layout of the HOC room will be modeled after a “Tactical Operations Center” or a “War Room” typically utilized by the military or corporations managing construction or other multi-faceted projects. The room will display mission-relevant and time-sensitive information and issues on walls organized by counties or goals. Visual displays such as graphs, maps and other GIS products will be utilized to convey information (such as plans and milestones, issues and resolutions, trends and progress) that can be easily understood and quickly compared and analyzed.
To gain “good” field intelligence on local housing needs and resources will rely heavily on the Disaster Housing Coordination Teams that are assigned to the impacted communities. The tri-member teams of local, state and federal government agents are designed to provide the JFO and the State immediate and intimate access to the local housing situations, while offering the local governments a conduit to improve contact and collaboration with the state and federal partners. The DHCT will establish and maintain networks of key local stakeholders and other state and federal presences in their assigned areas to support implementation of the housing mission.
Overall, the HOC will focus on communicating mission-critical Information such as:
Mission-Critical Information1 / Post event housing damage and needs
2 / Local short and long-term housing resources and capacities for recovery
3 / Temporary and permanent housing opportunities and obstacles
4 / Operational issues surfaced and resolutions applied
5 / Housing options and strategies chosen or developed
6 / Status of the housing mission’s progress and effectiveness
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Florida Disaster Housing Plan – April 2007
B. Strategy & Planning
A good solid strategic housing plan should concisely and precisely capture what the housing mission is, providing both a road map for operations and a systematic mean for stakeholders to contribute efforts, inputs and resources. Key attributes of the housing plan should include the scope of needs (or work), resources available, local preferences and state prerogatives, overall approaches and specific tactics, potential opportunities and obstacles, options and alternatives, best organizational structure and business practices, goals and timeframes, and milestones and other measures for tracking progress and success.
Two items are proposed here regarding strategy and planning. First, it is proposed that a Housing Planning Section be established within the Disaster Housing Operations Command to provide planning support to the housing mission. Support should include development of needs assessment and county-specific strategies, coordination with logistics, and facilitation of resources. Both federal and state governments should provide staffing to the Planning Group.
Secondly, the Housing Planning Section will formulate and present 4 Strategic Housing Plans (SHP) within the first 90 days post-declaration. The proposed schedule for the completing the strategic housing plans is: D+15, D+30, D+60 and D+90. However, the plans may be issued earlier and more frequently if needed. Also, there may be additional plans issued after D+90 as long-term housing recovery continues.
These plans will cover the three major phases of the housing missions: from sheltering (emergency and extended shelters), to temporary housing (up to 18 months), and finally long-term housing. Each of the 4 plans will have a particular focus and marks a transition of emphasis from one time period to another.
Strategic Housing Plans / FocusesD+15 / § Focus on the needs for extended sheltering
§ Assess damage impact on housing
§ Establish initial “ball park” forecast on temporary housing needs
§ Identify county-specific temporary housing options (with focus on population retention)
D+30 / § Update initial forecast on temporary housing needs
§ Confirm and incorporate changes to the county-specific strategies
§ Review and refine the overall temporary housing efforts
D+60 / § Status review of temporary housing mission
§ Validate temporary housing needs forecast and mission timeframe based on FEMA PPI and Applicant Registrations
§ Confirm and review progress of county-specific strategies
D+90 / § Focus on the long-term housing needs assessed
§ Provide a strategy for long-term housing recovery (local repopulation strategy)
§ Mark a transition of focus from temporary housing to long-term housing
C. Resources & Options
Housing resources and options will be needed to support and enhance the housing mission in its various phases (from extended sheltering to temporary housing assistance to long-term housing recovery). It is proposed that a Joint Housing Solutions Center (JHSC) be organized within the Housing Planning Section to help implement and improve the Strategic Housing Plan by providing the needed resource and additional options.
The JHSC will facilitate and coordinate resource contributions from both governments (federal, state to local) and the private and non-profit sectors. Potential participants may include the American Hotels & Lodging Association (for extended sheltering), to the local Boards of Realtors and Apartment Associations (rental resources), to HUD, USDA or other public or private funding sources (funding for long-term housing recovery).
Joint Housing Solutions Center – Working CommitteesEmergency & Extended Sheltering / Temp Housing Assistance / Long-Term Housing Recovery
The size and composition of its membership will depend largely on the scale and scope of the disaster impact and housing needs, but there will be standing members made up of select public agencies and private sector entities. Three working committees with focus on sheltering, temporary housing and long-term housing will be set up to facilitate their participations. Currently, the FLTRO already has a strong Rental Resource Unit that can take a key role in the Joint Housing Solutions Center.
It is vital that the appropriate representatives be selected to chair or participate as members. These representatives must have either the authority or the access to mobilize the resources needed, such as funding, technical support, facility, or expertise.
Chapter VI will discuss in greater detail the process of how the JHSC will be organized, involve its participants, and coordinate with Planning and the HOC in selecting and utilizing additional resources to support the housing mission.
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Florida Disaster Housing Plan – April 2007
D. Organizational Chart
Below is a basic organizational chart for the Disaster Housing Operations Command. It will be comprised of 4 major operational components: (1) the Housing Operations Center located at the JFO, (2) the Disaster Housing Teams assigned to the impacted counties, which are further supported by (3) the Housing Planning Section, (4) and the Joint Housing Solutions Center.
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Florida Disaster Housing Plan – April 2007
E. Activation & Staff Mobilization Schedule
The table below proposes the schedule for DHOC activation and staff deployment. It aims to illustrate what the different operational components within the DHOC will do and how they will interact – especially during the early days of the disaster, between D-5 and D+5. The underlying assumptions are:
§ The disaster assumed here is an event such as a hurricane, of which its projected path, time of occurrence (i.e., landfall), and potential impact area and scale are generally known some days ahead of its actual occurrence.
§ The HOC location is not in the path of or otherwise directly threatened by the disaster. The EOC and JFO operations are expected to continue.