The Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) says it's "pursuing" the notion of sending unused FEMA trailers manufactured to help victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to help with the relief efforts in Haiti.
"We're contacting people to see if it would be viable," Bill Baker, senior director of communications for RVIA, told the South Bend Tribune. "It could be beneficial to the RV industry and to the people of Haiti."
The government auction of some 100,000 FEMA trailers has been highly contested by the RV industry, which believes it could have a crippling effect on their businesses.
"We responded quickly and cooperated in getting trailers to FEMA," vice president of communication at the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association (RVDA)Phil Ingrassia said. "So our position is that the government should do everything it can to minimize the impact of the auctions on the local markets."
Ingrassia says sending the FEMA trailers to Haiti is an option. "It would be one way to use the trailers for what they were meant - emergency housing, whether here or Haiti," he told the newspaper.