International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Shelter and Coordination “why are more than a million and a half Haitians still homeless – most of them living under tarps and tents in spontaneous camps?”

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Operational Environment Densely populated urban area Frequent aftershocks….followed by rainy season….then hurricane season ‘Spontaneous camps’ - IDPs, but in an urban context with limited space Land availability & rubble clearance Huge number of agencies (& high staff turnover)  Media pressure (focus on response not situation)  Hollywood factor  Funding  Difficulties with T shelter designs  The temptation to do the same thing in each emergency

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies IFRC Shelter Cluster Convener  12th of Jan till 10th of Feb - IOM lead  IFRC assumed responsibility 1st week of February  Middle of IFRC’s largest disaster response with more than 100 RC Societies  More than 100+ agencies attending shelter cluster  Divided into sub hubs

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies The shelter challenge  The pace of shelter relief was actually faster than several recent disasters  Shelter Cluster agencies have now completed 19,000 T-shelters (14% of declared overall target of nearly 133,000)  Pace of construction picking up  BUT prospects for T-shelter uncertain. Best scenario is 11 % of the camp pop rehoused in T-shelters by the anniversary

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Land in Haiti  80% PAP residents renters / squatters before earthquake  Haitian government “participatory enumeration” clarify tenure in the community  Success using “street by street” solution (shelters on individual plots to establish title).  Need for a Pluralist approach -  T-shelters in people’s former neighbourhoods would play a role, combined with shelters on the sites of people’s former homes (“house by house”),  The repair of “yellow” (reparable) houses,  “transitional” shelters that become semi-permanent,  incentivizing people to return to “green” (safe) houses  longer-term support to thousands of families in the provinces still hosting quake victims.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Land and shelter: IFRC advocacy  International community must honour its pledges of assistance  Haiti’s recovery led by Haitian communities.  Rebuilding process must favour recreation of neighbourhoods over resettlement.  Residential reconstruction must be sustainable - not reproduce vulnerability  Shelter agencies must think outside the box, adopting a “whatever works” approach.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Land and shelter: IFRC advocacy (cont)  Government to appoint a single figure responsible for rehousing, designate a single agency to handle the process and decide what to do about uncertainty over land tenure.  Judiciary must act impartially in adjudicating disputes.  Interests of the tenants (overwhelming majority), not owners, must be safeguarded.  The (still-expanding) NGO community must “do no harm”.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Questions we need to ask  Are we ready for urban disaster?  Who is responsible for leading on shelter?  How do we link regional coordination to cluster approach?

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Thank you for your attention