Lyle Henderson, an administrative assistant for Human Resources, is one of 27 Loyola employees now living in FEMA trailers in Kenner.

“I prefer to think of it as a temporary mobile home site,” Henderson said.

Before moving into the trailer site, Henderson had been staying everywhere, he said. His closest family lives in Baton Rouge, so Henderson often commuted from Baton Rouge, or stayed with friends in other out-of-the-way cities.

“Living in Kenner actually has been pleasant. I haven’t settled into the city, but I’ve settled into my trailer,” said Henderson.

The effort to help displaced faculty and staff began with an online resource to find employees and their families housing Uptown, said Henderson. But as prices rose Uptown, the administration decided to use land the university owned in Kenner to provide housing for the displaced employees.

“The motivation was pretty simple. It was out of a concern to get the university operational again,” said the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., university president.

“We began this project right after Katrina, and it took much longer than we thought it would. But we knew that faculty and staff were in need of housing,” Wildes said.

Although Loyola owns the land, the financing for the trailers and the construction has come from FEMA.

“It’s just like anyone who had a house and got a check through FEMA’s individual assistance program,” said Tommy Screen, assistant to the president for government relations. Screen has handled the practical end of seeing the site realized.

“The whole set-up is now between the employees and the federal government. The university is solely a third party,” Screen said.

Loyola’s plan to set-up trailers in Kenner did dismay some homeowners.

“At the beginning, there were neighbors opposed to moving trailers to the site, just like everywhere else,” Screen said.

One homeowner presented a petition with 84 signatures objecting to the site at the Dec. 16 Kenner City Council meeting that decided the fate of Loyola’s proposed site, according to The Times-Picayune.

The city council did unanimously approve the trailers at that same meeting, though with several conditions.

Exclusivity was one of the requirements of the city council legislation.

“It’s an exclusive use site, only for Loyola employees and their families,” Screen said.

Another condition laid out by the city council is that the trailers can stay on the site for no longer than a year, and Loyola will have to apply for an extension after the first six months.

Henderson is aware of the temporary nature of his new residence.

“By next February, we’ll all be out of there,” he said. He is currently repairing his house Uptown, which suffered a ceiling collapse but no flooding.

Loyola has landscaped the trailer site and erected a fence around the area. The university has also provided a security guard.

The original move-in date was Jan. 9, but a number of setbacks occurred. The majority of the delays came in dealing with FEMA and the Kenner City Council, said Screen. There was also a construction delay.

The site was ready for residents to move in about two weeks ago. There were originally 43 employees signed up for trailers on the site, but due to the delays, 27 of those employees and their families are currently living at the site.

“My regret is that it took so long to get done,” Wildes said.

Whatever the set backs, the university has put a lot of time and effort into completing this project, Screen said.

Lindsey Netherly can be reached at [email protected].