Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Planning for temporary housing through multicriteria decision analysis

  • Article
  • Published:
Journal of Housing and the Built Environment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Over the last three decades, the severity and frequency of natural disasters has experienced an increasing trend. As a result, the numbers of post-disaster displaced people have reached unprecedented levels. In the United States, the common temporary housing units supplied for increased demand are manufactured homes or travel trailers. There are a variety of temporary housing unit options, including but not limited to manufactured units, prefabricated modular units, prefabricated kit homes, and tenting options. In order to hedge housing disruptions, a diverse portfolio of temporary housing options must be ready for implementation; however, without proper planning the variability in temporary housing options would result in uncertainty within the supply chain for housing the displaced populations. To evaluate temporary housing options in a systematic way and reduce uncertainty in disaster response, this study proposes a multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) to evaluate temporary housing alternatives and plan in advance for a diverse temporary housing portfolio. According to experts’ input, the study reveals that Manufactured Homes are preferred which is confirmed by its ranking under each MCDA methodology. In addition, this study finds that the inclusion of prefabricated kit supplies and modular units benefits the existing portfolio of manufactured temporary housing units. The resulting diversified portfolio of temporary housing hedges risk from the varying range of constraints in temporary housing needs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Download references

Funding

The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Perrucci (modeling, implementation, writing), Hassan (implementation, writing), Baroud (conceptualization, advising, writing, editing).

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hiba Baroud.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and Figs. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19.

Table 7 Elicited average importance weighting and deviation for each attribute in all scenarios
Table 8 Unit security scoring metric breakdowns
Table 9 Fire safety scoring metric breakdowns
Table 10 Sustainability scoring metric breakdowns
Table 11 Methods of transport scoring metric breakdowns
Table 12 Lavatory type scoring metric breakdowns
Table 13 Cooking area scoring metric breakdowns
Table 14 Natural lighting scoring metric breakdowns
Fig. 7
figure 7

Sensitivity analysis on feasibility for weighted sum during all scenarios

Fig. 8
figure 8

Sensitivity analysis on cost for weighted sum during all scenarios

Fig. 9
figure 9

Sensitivity analysis on standard of living for weighted sum during all scenarios

Fig. 10
figure 10

Sensitivity analysis on safety for weighted sum during all scenarios

Fig. 11
figure 11

Sensitivity analysis on feasibility for TOPSIS during all scenarios

Fig. 12
figure 12

Sensitivity analysis on cost for TOPSIS during all scenarios

Fig. 13
figure 13

Superadobe dome shelter design background and imagery. Image Credit: Hany Abulnour (2013)

Fig. 14
figure 14

Ex-container design background and imagery. Image Credit: Hany Abulnour (2013)

Fig. 15
figure 15

Blog house design background and imagery. Image Credit: Hany Abulnour (2013)

Fig. 16
figure 16

Katrina Trailer design background and imagery. Image Credit: Hany Abulnour (2013)

Fig. 17
figure 17

Katrina Cottage design background and imagery. Image Credit: Hany Abulnour (2013)

Fig. 18
figure 18

HHi House design background and imagery. Image Credit: Ohlson (2014)

Fig. 19
figure 19

Shelter Box design background and imagery. Image Credit: https://www.shelterboxusa.org/

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Perrucci, D.V., Hassan, M.M. & Baroud, H. Planning for temporary housing through multicriteria decision analysis. J Hous and the Built Environ 38, 541–576 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-022-09952-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-022-09952-2

Keywords

Navigation