Not all walls in China are great.
MOBILITY magazine and The New York Times each recently had an article about issues that have arisen with Chinese drywall. The drywall, which was imported from China during the housing boom and has been installed in many new luxury apartment buildings, can cause severe health problems to those that live near it.
It’s difficult to say how many homes may be affected. In The New York Times article, Arnold Levin, a Phildelphia lawyer said that, “There could be 60,000 to 100,000 homes that are worthless and have to be ripped completely down and rebuilt.” MOBILITY inflated the number to 300,000 homes.
It’s easier to create a timeline of when the drywall was installed and to gauge the number of complaints that the government has received thus far. The Times article went on to say that, “The product safety commission has received more than 1,300 complaints from 26 states, but the bulk are from Florida, Louisiana and Virginia, where hurricanes led to an unprecedented housing boom in 2006 and 2007.” MOBILITY stated that the drywall was found in a home constructed as early as 2001, but both sources agree that the majority of homes that contain the offensive product were constructed somewhere between 2004 and 2007.
What can a provider do if they believe their tenant is being affected by Chinese drywall? The only thing to do, of course,is to move them, but who pays for the cost? The Times article elaborated on the ongoing lawsuits related to the Chinese drywall conundrum and it stated the difficulty of finding legal remedy to the situation or even of clearly delineating who is at fault. Unfortunately for now, providers who have tenants made ill by Chinese drywall may end up with a sizeable bill.
The NBTA, or National Business Travel Association, has begun compiling a list of preferred vendors who specialize in environment responsibility– they’ve only gotten as far as rental car agencies, but a carefully planned approach of the NBTA by, say CHPA, could produce a list of preferred corporate housing vendors. Why should we do this? Take note of the “Recipient List” on the last two pages, which outlines the companies that receive this bulletin by the NBTA.
Jay Boehmer of Business Travel News Online writes in the article “Business Travel Cuts Bottoming,”
“Many companies expect to increase travel spending next year from what is expected to remain a craterous 2009, but some industry players are convinced it will be a matter of years before they resume pre-recession levels, according to speakers at last month’s National Business Travel Association International Convention in San Diego, conversations with industry buyers and suppliers and recent surveys of corporate travel managers.”
So hold on providers, because we may have finally reached rock bottom and it is time to begin the climb again. And what have we learned from the recession? As Charles Darwin said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
Tampa Bay Online recently published an article about an army reservist who was forced to plead guilty to housing fraud. The article states that the reservist set up a trust for his home, and then rented it to the provider Apartment Express. The man then turned around and rented the house from Apartment Express under his own name. He charged the rental expenses to the Department of Defense. (more…)
In a recent CHPA newsletter, it was announced that Furnished Quarters had donated over 1, 600 items to Furnish a Future, a program run by The Partnership for the Homeless in New York City. The program furnished houses for those who were previously without homes. Participants in the program select furniture from a warehouse in Brooklyn, and the program delivers it to their apartment. (more…)
It’s never too early to start planning for the trade shows you will attend over the coming year. Here’s a list of upcoming trade shows which it may be helpful for you as a corporate housing provider to attend: (more…)
Worldwide ERC, formerly the Employee Relocation Council, reported in its December 3rd issue of Globility that many middle managers are sticking with the job they have rather than to risk moving to another company only to be fired shortly down the road. The article goes on to state (more…)
