Housing reconstruction after conflict and disaster

Housing is essential to the wellbeing and development of most societies. It is a complex asset, with links to livelihoods, health, education, security and social and family stability. Housing is also an extremely vulnerable asset, and the destruction of homes or their loss through displacement or dispossession is one of the most visible effects of conflict and natural disaster. This paper argues that housing reconstruction should be a more prominent part of programming after conflict and disaster. Housing interventions face significant challenges that cannot simply be wished away. But if agencies are going to continue to do housing reconstruction in the aftermath of conflict and disaster, then there is a clear need to find ways of doing it better. This paper reviews experiences in housing reconstruction in the aftermath of natural disaster and conflict. It offers guidance on how to plan and prepare for a housing reconstruction intervention; describes the various housing reconstruction approaches available; and sets out the various models of implementation that tend to be used.