Can prefabricated homes accelerate the reconstruction of Altadena and the Palisades in the Pacific?
The new foundation launched by Rick Caruso hopes what they want, announced a $15 million pledge from Airbnb co-founder on Wednesday, with nearly 100 prefabs in wildfire-ravaged communities We provide homes.
Donations from Joe Gebvia, who is also a member of Tesla’s board of directors, will take on the distribution of homes made in factories built by Samara, co-founded by another company, Gebvia. Samara models range from studios to two bedroom units, up to 950 square feet.
“In addition to having people return home quickly, this gives everyone hope that they are victims of change,” Caruso told The Times in an interview.
The partnership between Caruso’s nonprofit Steadfast LA and Samara is free to those with low to moderate incomes who are uninsured, uninsured or elderly, who lack the money to rebuild otherwise. Provide a home. Gebbia reached out to her this month and offered to give her millions of dollars.
“Obviously, it caught my attention,” Caruso said of the important gift. Under the deal, Strivefast will raise another $15 million to match Gebvia’s gift, generating $30 million in 80-100 homes.
The program also aims to quickly provide homes with a similar footprint to what once stood in Pallisade and Altadena. Caruso said about 600 burnt-out homes in Altadena are less than about 1,000 square feet.
Selected for the program will be delivered with factory-built homes with metal roofs, double-pane windows, fire-resistant designs and HVAC systems. Samara also helps to permanently install structures.
Mike McNamara, CEO and co-founder of Samara, decides how his team will place and location the home, score the soil, and potentially set up the foundation and driveway or garage. He said that. Lott is undergoing grading and engineering work, including setting up hookups to water, sewer and power companies, but Samara will build the home in a factory in Mexicali, Mexico, about six miles from the California border. .
“We’ll do a lot of preparation while the house is being built offsite,” McNamara said. “And what we do is put the truck behind the cicadas, pick it up with a crane, lift it up to the site, and literally install it in a few days.”
Inside Samara’s house.
(Samara)
McNamara said the factory distance will benefit the reconstruction process as Samara does not need to compete with L.A. labor market or materials supply chain.
“We build in a completely different supply chain,” he said. “Our costs don’t escalate. Our timeline won’t be pushed out.”
According to McNamara, the Samara two-bedroom model costs around $250,000, with additional preparation and $250,000. He and Caruso hope that local governments can cut their price tags by waiver of permit fees and other measures.
“I want to build up to 1,000 homes this [with] Various providers of homes manufactured – this is just the beginning,” Caruso said.
Caruso said Stabust is still establishing a process to verify eligible homeowners. Independent organizations that have not yet been announced will determine their financial needs and other qualifications, but interested homeowners can submit information to the Strivefast website to learn more.
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