Where have FEMA trailers gone?

RAINBOW: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailers that were brought to the McKenzie River area in 2021 have been decommissioned and hauled to the Farm Service Agency (FSA) in Gardiner to be sold through General Services Administration (GSA) excess auction.

The 17 units that were placed at 54705 McKenzie Hwy. were part of FEMA’s Direct Temporary Housing Program, which provided temporary housing to residents impacted by the 2020 Labor Day wildfires. “The goal of the program is to give people time to pursue a new permanent housing plan that meets their needs,” according to Natalie Shaver, a public affairs specialist with FEMA’s Region 10 office, located in Bothell, Washington.

Sixteen trailers (four with three bedrooms and units with two bedrooms) were occupied by residents impacted by the fires, Shaver said. “FEMA used a unit on site (a one bedroom) as an office.”

Under the FEMA housing assistance program the agency may provide a temporary housing unit directly to homeowners and renters. A disaster survivor whose primary home is destroyed or is unlivable because of major damage caused by the disaster, and who has no other practical temporary housing options available within a reasonable commuting distance due to a lack of available rental resources may be eligible for direct temporary housing.

The McKenzie River RV Park location opened in Rainbow in July of 2021. It operated until it was closed on March 31st, 2023.

Shaver said one unit was sold to an applicant and the rest were sent to the auction site.