Though designs differ somewhat, the main factor for appearance is that Katrina cottages look like traditional homes in the area, reduced in size to lower costs and ease construction so that multiple units can be built quickly as needed. The Katrina cottages are usually one-bedroom, shotgun-house designs, with a front porch that helps stabilize the house from strong winds. Hence, they tend to be smaller than many house trailers, which have 2 or 3 bedrooms (as in a double wide trailer); however, the cottages are constructed of heavier materials to resist winds that would buckle the light-weight walls of mobile homes.