Haiti faces a major housing shortage, which was only compounded by the 2010 earthquake, in which 300,000 houses were damaged or destroyed. With over half of the population living on less than $2 per day, there is an urgent need to identify affordable and accessible housing solutions. A local developer, Chabuma, began developing the country’s first affordable housing developments in Port au Prince, and have served as a model for both sustainable and affordable housing, offering low and middle-income households to attain security of tenure.
Chabuma’s developments were funded by support from Haiti HOME, a USAID funded program implemented by the World Council of Credit Unions and the Affordable Housing Institute. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) was also brought in as a partner in order to certify projects under IFC’s EDGE. These developments are now not only sustainable in ways that benefit the environment, but also lead to long-term savings for households.
Sources:
Caldwell, O. (2019) Breaking new grounds: EDGE certified affordable housing in Haiti. EDGE.
Link: https://edge.gbci.org/breaking-new-grounds-edge-certified-affordable-housing-haiti
Musić, R. (2021) Building the business case for green affordable housing. Enterprise Development & Microfinance. 32(3): 179–192. Link: https://doi.org/10.3362/1755-1986.21-00013