Tents, Tarps and Traps

If I had a dollar for every company that has emailed me about made-in-the-USA, ready in 15 minutes, pre-fabricated space-age shelters I'd actually have enough to buy one of them! Here's yet another company trying to convince us that a shelter for $4000 dollars is worth it.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/02/24/1498903/low-cost-cabins-offered-for-post.html?asset_id=Homes%20for%20Haiti&asset_type=html_module

I realize that people want to help, but they are working in a world that is so far removed from the reality here in Haiti that it boggles my mind at their audacity. The article above is so unhelpful to our work. I know USAID staff who tell me that there is so much pressure on them from Washington that people are actually talking about sending down the dreaded Katrina trailers! Remember those? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14011193/

How shelter plays out is quite simple: a group of agencies working in shelter (headed by IFRC and called the "shelter cluster") are essentially working off of two numbers: total number of dispossessed and total amount of funding. If this was a Star Trek movie these two numbers would line up rather nicely and we'd get everyone a shelter made with space-age material, complete with a blu-ray player so no one gets bored and starts to contemplate life.

But its not. There never is enough money (and there's many reasons why that is--none of which have to do with supply-side--more on that later). So we all more or less agree on a design that is feasible, meets Humanitarian standards, and is cost-efficient in order ensure every family that needs one gets one. I'm making it sound simple aren't I? That's for your benefit, because I've skipped a months worth of steps in between.

The point is: equitable coverage is necessary. You can't have one neighborhood getting a McMansion shelter and the other getting a piece of tarp. Its a huge trap to get sucked into this whole "let's give them dignity through a $4000 dollar cabin". Its a trap because it essentially reduces aidwork to a lottery. Some win big (they score a ShelterBox) and the rest get scraps. That's what causes riots break out (hell, I'd riot too!). So it seems prudent to ensure equitable coverage, right? Yes, most agencies think so as well. But some find it easier not to think in the first place (looking at you SHELTER-BOX).

It costs us $500 to build a simple shelter with four walls, a roof, and sufficient living space for 5 people. Now, mind you it isn't made from space-age technology, but it'll keep a hell of a lot of people from dying from pneumonia, etc.

Ugh. My blood's boiling. I'd better end this post. One final note: we'll build transitional shelters made with local labour and local materiels where available for less than $500. These shelters will last years--though we will begin re-building homes long before then. Meanwhile one shelter-box tent (complete with all of the little cups and spoons and towels and jugs--that are already readily available in PaP markets) shipped to Haiti will cost twice that, at least. I don't know the exact price, because they won't tell me. Given that they won't tell me, I'm certain its ridiculously high. How long will one of their tents last? And where will Shelter-Box be when we start to rebuild Haiti?