Preliminary assessment of the impact of shelter interventions in the social dynamics of beneficiaries

Although anecdotal evidence suggests that there is a strong link between shelter activities and the improvement of non-house related social conditions of beneficiaries, rigorous studies assessing this link are still very limited and not available in the case of Haiti. Furthermore, rigorous evidence-based guidance for the decision makers (government and international partners) on the most effective resource allocation in the shelter sector is still missing. Shepper and Hill (2005) in “The Economic Impact of Shelter Assistance in Post-Disaster Settings”, provide one of the few available studies that looks into the impact of emergency shelter programs in the development of post-relief economies, building incomes of the affected populations and taking the first steps towards rigorous measurement of the impact of these programs on the incomes of the beneficiaries. The authors find that investments in emergency shelter provision offer significant returns, generating payback valued at three to eight times the value of the initial investment. Shepper and Hill also find that the benefits of shelter last beyond the emergency assistance period. These include positive effects on income and family health. The positive relationship between shelter investments and household’s income suggest that similar link could be studied in other areas such as education, health and displacement to broaden the understanding of the impacts of the shelter sector on the other social dimensions. Therefore, the overall objective of this study is to investigate the impact of shelter activities on social dimensions not directly related to housing, like access to education, health and household incomes providing a better understanding of these links. The assumption of this study is that providing reliable shelter for vulnerable households not only contributes to lowering the socioeconomic losses caused by disasters, enhancing resilience and sustainability in the housing sector and addressing risk reduction, but it also contributed with a cascade effect on multiple aspects of the current and future socio-economic condition of the families receiving shelter support. Therefore, shelter projects contribute to addressing social issues of multidimensional nature impacting vulnerable individuals.