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Situation Overview
Eight months after Hurricane Maria hit the island, there are still IDPs living in collective centres. They are the most vulnerable people, with many of them being elderly or having no relatives, houses or employment and being unable to pay a rent or other housing costs. The majority of the existing Buildings pre-identified for emergency shelter require improvements.
The technical assistance centres (TACs) serve as a critical mediator between the GoD and the communities, and were recently established under the “Dominica Housing Framework”.
The TACs, which review the plans and monitor the reconstruction work, still have insufficient capacity to respond to many crucial services. However, positive developments emerged with the creation of a joint, consolidated database that includes a list of potential beneficiaries, their status, status of recovery interventions by the housing and settlements sector partners, and other information intended to reduce risks of mobilization conflicts and beneficiary doubling. The database is also intended to provide clear notification to the government regarding the completion of the work scope by international partners and alert the need for further government intervention, including remaining repair, retrofit and inspections regimes.
The Housing Coordinator Advisor, who co-leads the housing and settlements working group, coordinates the work of 10 international housing partners, local civil society organizations, private initiatives and other UN agencies (UNDP, UNICEF, etc.); and produces reports of progress, troubleshooting and issue resolution. The advisor also acts as a government liaison, co-leads weekly meetings and supervises the IOM Information Manager – who created and continuously maintains the Hurricane Maria Recovery Housing Progress Database. Support was also provided by the housing coordinator on the multi-ministry assessment of emergency shelters (collective shelters). In addition, the advisor is available to provide advice on the integration of climate resilience within recovery efforts to the government and international partners.