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.