Abstract
Natural disasters in the United States are increasing in frequency and severity, resulting in significant housing loss and prolonged displacement for survivors. Traditional onsite construction methods for post-disaster housing are often slow, costly, and hampered by supply chain disruptions, regulatory delays, and labor shortages. This capstone evaluates the potential of industrialized housing-homes built off-site and rapidly deployed-to address these challenges and accelerate recovery for affected communities. Through workflow mapping, supply chain analysis, and case studies including the 2023 Lahaina wildfire, Reframe Systems, and Brownsville’s cdcb response, the study identifies key bottlenecks in both traditional and industrialized construction approaches. The findings highlight that industrialized solutions can reduce deployment timelines and improve scalability, but face challenges related to transportation, site preparation, onsite assembly, and complex building codes. The research offers insights for optimizing the post-disaster housing supply chain and recommends strategies for leveraging industrialized housing to deliver timely and resilient shelter for disaster survivors and their communities.
