The bright white trailers started arriving in late 2005, weeks after Hurricane Katrina laid waste to hundreds of thousands of homes along the Gulf Coast. The unadorned FEMA-issued units didn’t look like much—aluminum siding outside, veneer-­clad cabinetry inside—but, to their displaced occupants, the trailers were a godsend.

“It had that great brand-new smell that I thought was just wonderful,” said Jennifer Donelson of Gulfport, Mississippi, in a 2008 interview with a Sierra Club member. “I had never had anything brand-new before.”