There has been an increased interest in an emergency or temporary housing as a result of COVID-19. Emergency housing is developed to accommodate people displaced by flooding, fire, social unrest and COVID-19 mitigation programmes.

The National Housing Code developed by the Department of Human Settlements in 2009 makes provision for emergency housing. Changing circumstances since 2009, such as COVID-19 and climate change has meant that it is important to review this provision.   

In a paper titled ‘A Sustainability Specification for Emergency Housing,’ I draw on the Code to propose a new sustainability specification for emergency housing. This takes into account the tight cost constraints and time-frames that need to be met in these types of projects.

The paper critically reviews the specification and identifies recommendations for its further development and application. An early draft of the paper is available here. 

Picture credit: Archinect