Attachments
Background
An estimated 5.9 million people need shelter assistance in Syria according to the 2022 Humanitarian Needs Overview. The needs are diverse and range across different groups, including newly displaced families, households suffering long-term and multiple displacements, people staying in sub-standard collective shelters and in informal settlements, and households remaining in or returning to their own damaged homes, and/or holding short-term occupancy agreements which expose them to risk of eviction.
UNHCR and partners have also identified through their own assessments the needs and vulnerabilities of boys and girls, and men and women of different ages and backgrounds. In line with its shelter strategy and following an inter-sectoral area-based approach, UNHCR provided support to returnees and affected communities through repairing their damaged houses.
In 2020 and 2021, UNHCR repaired 4,261 houses for 4,803 households in six governorates of Rural Damascus, Homs, Aleppo, Deir-ez-Zor, Latakia, and Dar’a in partnership with six national and international NGOs. Meanwhile, in 2022, 1,860 houses for 2,019 households were repaired in these six governorates to provide a longer-term shelter solution for returnees and affected communities.
Beneficiaries of the Damaged House Repair Programme include returnees who voluntarily returned to their area of origin, internally displaced persons (IDPs) living on rent, or other vulnerable community members affected by the crisis. Priority is given to households including owners and tenants in their partially damaged but structurally safe housing units, who have eligible occupancy documents (ownership/tenure documents or alternative documents recognized nationally).
Rehabilitation of damaged houses refers to all types of repairs and maintenance work including the replacement of missing elements to make the residential units inhabitable. The term “houses” include all types of residential units such as apartments and individual homes. The damaged house repair programme includes preparatory work (debris removal and cleaning), closure of openings in internal and external walls, plastering and painting of internal areas, replacement of doors and windows, repair of floors, toilets, water and sanitation (WASH) facilities, and electrical works (cabling and installation of lamps).