The delivery of shelter and settlement support is a complex process. It incorporates interventions that span emergency, transitional, and permanent options for ensuring populations have safe, dignified and healthy living conditions. Shelter and settlements programming and implementation rely on, and are closely linked with the complexity of (local and international) markets and supply chains for goods and services for shelter and household core relief items, and is linked to ancillary markets such as energy, transportation, water, and sanitation.
KEY MARKET SYSTEMS
Commodities and materials: Construction items, materials (e.g., bricks, CGI, timber, sand etc.), essential household items, tools for construction
Labour: Skilled labour for construction or specialized services; unskilled labour for the same
Housing and land: Land for construction of new shelters and housing, purchase and sale of existing shelters or housing stock, rental properties (including absorptive capacity, availability, accessibility)
Financial services: Informal and formal credit mechanisms (banks, local lenders, community-based programs, private-sector schemes) for repair, rent, hosting, or reconstruction
Legal services: Residency systems, land dispute mechanisms, contract law
Planning services: architectural/engineering services, electrical or sanitation planning
Utilities: Energy, water, fuel, transport
Main concepts and trends
Market analyses conducted within specific shelter commodity markets suggest that humanitarian actors are adopting market-based approaches. However, market analysis is not always systematically conducted, and sometimes a deeper understanding of the various markets and value chains that make up the broader shelter and settlements market system in an affected area is required to inform humanitarian programming, as well as support the transition to recovery and beyond.
Market-based programming (MBP) in shelter can be based on the markets for commodities and materials (ex. timber, corrugated iron sheet, household items), planning services and labour for construction, Housing and Land (ex. land for construction of new housing, rental, …), Financial and Legal services (ex. Credit mechanisms, residency systems, contract law, HLP rights, … ) . and most often includes cash and voucher assistance (CVA). CVA for shelter outcomes, in particular conditional cash grants for shelter repairs or (re)construction, cash for rent and utilities and vouchers or cash for shelter materials and essential household items is a widely adopted approach, as documented in this case study series.
The choice and flexibility which CVA can provide also presents unique risks and challenges in achieving shelter outcomes. Shelter programming requires that minimum standards of safety and dignity are met, while considering how to ensure technical quality in construction, security of tenure, and ultimately ensuring that interventions do not do harm through poor quality building practices, which might be cheaper. Unconditional multi-purpose cash grants cannot guarantee the achievement of shelter outcomes, and therefore in most cases, CVA should be integrated into a shelter program with a range of complementary activities that address these context-specific risks and complexities.
Adapting pre-crisis market assessment (PCMA) guidance for shelter
Market analysis tools used in the shelter sector are primarily focused on commodities and often inadequate to cover the technical and social complexities of shelter as a humanitarian response. In response to this gap, Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter and the Integration Lab at the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame partnered in 2017 to develop a shelter pre-crisis market analysis (S-PCMA), adapting the Pre-Crisis Market Assessment (PCMA) tool. The S-PCMA provides practical guidance on conducting market analysis of shelter-related goods and services prior to the onset of a crisis, recognizing the complexities of shelter markets, such as housing tenure, property rights and the incremental nature of self-build housing.
CASE STUDY:
A construction labor market analysis in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
An emergency market mapping and analysis (EMMA) study from Haiti in 2010 examined the opportunities for earthquake‐affected populations to gain employment in the construction sector. Prior to the earthquake, construction had been identified as an area of potential job growth and a priority sector for the government, however there was a mismatch between the skills available in the local labour market and the jobs available. Professional, skilled, and semi‐skilled workers were all in demand, but this demand was often filled by foreign workers. A labour market analysis revealed a variety of options to use and improve the construction labour market – on the supply side (ex. short term skills training for masons) and on the demand side (ex. improving access to credit for construction).
