Housing the Homeless

It has been estimated that in the neighborhood of the Apparent Project artisan center there are still almost 5,000 people living in tents. Many of these people lost homes in the earthquake. Others lived in difficult situations before the earthquake and are seeking relief and opportunity in the charitable aid, water, and community support they find in the tent cities.

While some of our artisans have earned enough money to buy new homes, the majority still live under tattered tents and tarps which flood with each heavy rain. As aid dries up and forced evictions place added stress on an already unstable environment, crime and violence increase in these tent cities , and the stress on families is enormous.

It is expected that this generation of Haitian children will grow up in tents.

After building and repairing more than 50 homes in Port Au Prince since the earthquake (see video here), we have come to realize how rental situations drain scarce resources from the poor. Haitians pay rent annually, so the burden of saving and protecting a large sum of money cripples motivation for families otherwise eager to leave the tent cities. There must be land reform and increasingly democratic land ownership if we want to see poverty overcome in Haiti.

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