Housing

The Red Cross recently came under fire after an investigation by NPR and ProPublica revealed widespread mismanagement of funds and lack of accountability for nearly half a billion dollars received post-quake. This lack of accountability, however, is not an isolated issue: Both the lack of adequate response to the cholera epidemic caused by UN peacekeepers and mismanagement of relief funds by USAID show that this problem is widespread. When organizations like these become too focused on pleasing donors and troop-contributing countries, they fail to really help the local populations. This author provides some recommendations on how aid accountability can be improved. Part of the article is below. Click HERE for the full text. House Hunters How Reconstruction in Haiti Went So Wrong Lauren Carasik, Foreign Affairs June 21, 2015 In the five years following the devastating 2010 earthquake that killed more than 200,000 and displaced […]

Après le tremblement de terre en 2010, des millions de personnes ont été déplacées et ont dû vivre dans des camps. Maintenant, plus de 5 ans plus tard, 64,680 personnes vivent toujours dans des camps! Tandis que  les programmes de subvention au logement ont aidé, plusieurs personnes qui ont reçu les subventions ont fini par revenir dans les camps après un certain temps. Haïti a besoin de solutions durables de logement. Partie de l’article est ci-dessous. Cliquez ICI pour le texte complet. Haïti – Social : 64,680 personnes vivent toujours dans des camps (mars 2015) HaitiLibre 15 avril 2015 La dernière Matrice de Suivi du Déplacement (DTM) d’Haïti de l’Organisation Internationale pour les Migrations (OIM), allant de juillet 2010 au mois de mars 2015 indique que 16,230 ménages déplacés soit 64,680 Personnes Déplacées Internes (DPI), demeurent toujours dans 66 sites de déplacés ; 59% de ces […]

CEEPCO Contracting, which USAID used for their poorly-constructed Caracol housing project, has now been suspended. This comes after USAID extended CEEPCO’s contract in 2014, despite knowing about the construction problems. All of the houses suffer from construction problems including concrete that is below the required PSI. This is especially worrisome as such poorly-constructed housing was a major cause of the massive death- and injury toll of the 2010 earthquake. Part of the article is below. Click HERE for the full text. Second USAID Contractor Suspended Following Caracol Housing Debacle Center for Economic and Policy Research March 30, 2015 On March 25, 2015, USAID suspended CEEPCO Contracting – which had been working on shelter programs in Haiti –from receiving further government contracts, pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation. CEEPCO joins Thor Construction, which was suspended in early February. The investigation concerns faulty construction […]

There have been a few articles and reports on how USAID’s housing project in the north of Haiti failed to live up to projections and also cost millions more than planned. This article delves deeper into how that happened, including lack of oversight from USAID, failure to respect quality control measures and mismanagement of the project. The article includes interviews with some of the contractors who mismanaged the funds and built the poorly-constructed, largely dangerous homes. Part of the article is below. Click HERE for the full text. How the US Plan to Build Houses for Displaced Haitians Became an Epic Boondoggle Jake Johnston, Vice News March 5, 2015 After the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti in January 2010, the US government responded with an ambitious plan to build 15,000 new houses in the country. But the ensuing program to put […]

This article is about a development called Village La Difference, which was meant to provide housing for earthquake survivors but ended up with more of an assortment of residents due to amenities like reliable electricity . In this Village, a group of women and garment workers from the local industrial park support each other in hopes that the development won’t become another failure of Haiti’s reconstruction. Part of the article is below. Click HERE for the full text and audio. ‘Women aren’t a broom to be left in the corner’ Amy Bracken, PRI’s The World January 12, 2015 After Haiti’s disastrous earthquake in 2010, foreign aid poured into the country. Much of it went to long-term efforts to get people employed and housed. But results have been disappointing. The US Agency for International Development, for example, initially pledged to construct 15,000 permanent houses; only […]

Immédiatement après le tremblement de terre, le monde entier avait les yeux rivés sur Haïti. Aujourd’hui, il semble que le monde a oublié les dizaines de milliers de personnes qui sont toujours sans abri, dans les camps de fortune depuis 2010. Ces personnes traitent toujours avec les expulsions forcées et les mauvaises conditions sanitaires. Seulement des solutions de logement durables peuvent résoudre ce problème. Partie de l’article est ci dessous. Cliquez ICI pour le texte complet. Click HERE for the English version. Haïti. Cinq ans après le tremblement de terre dévastateur, des dizaines de milliers de personnes sont toujours sans logement Amnesty International 8 janvier 2015 Cinq ans après le séisme dévastateur qui a frappé Haïti en 2010, des dizaines de milliers de personnes n’ont toujours pas retrouvé de logement, et beaucoup de ceux qui ont tout perdu dans cette catastrophe se sentent […]