Urgent need for stronger low-cost homes

The onslaught of disastrous floods in Thailand has seen the collapse of many houses, sparking the need to develop low-cost housing that is better able to withstand the power of wind, rainwater and floods.

These concerns were expressed at the Third Asia-Pacific Housing Forum in Bangkok last week, in the light of predictions that natural disasters may intensify as a consequence of climate change.

The event drew a variety of corporate sponsors, including the Government Housing Bank, Citi, the Aditya Birla Group, the Siam Cement Group, the Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, True Visions, Siam City Cement, Amway (Thailand), Ananda Development, BlueScope Lysaght (Thailand), INTL Global Currencies, Raimon Land, JW Marriot Bangkok, Thai Airways International and DHL.

A variety of affordable and appropriate building materials were presented at the Forum - including reeds and bamboo. Used tyres were mentioned as being useful in disaster mitigation. Construction experts stressed that humanitarian agencies should not simply experiment with new technologies in low-income communities, but rather work with local residents to identify suitable solutions.

With the theme "Sustainable shelter in an age of climate change and disasters", the forum was attended by 700 delegates representing more than 220 organisations from 35 countries.

At the event, Citi announced a US$1-million (Bt30.49 million) commitment from the Citi Foundation to partner with Habitat for Humanity in launching an innovative three-year multi-country microsavings and financial-education initiative.

The Citi-Habitat Home Improvement Microsavings Programme will target communities living in substandard housing in the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam that are regularly exposed to natural disasters such as flooding and typhoons. By providing means of saving, financial education and construction technical assistance, the programme aims to help 3,000 low-income home-owners to save a total of US$2 million in strengthening their homes against disasters.

"There are an increasing number of natural disasters in this region, and although Citi has a proud history of disaster response, we also understand the importance of disaster-risk reduction," said Citi Asia-Pacific's chief executive Shirish Apte. "We are very pleased to extend our long-standing partnership with Habitat for Humanity and demonstrate Citi's commitment to financial inclusion by developing a scalable savings model for poor communities in the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam that are especially vulnerable to disasters."

Citi Foundation's president and chief executive Pamela Flaherty said the foundation's goal was to increase the supply of financial products and services to improve and accelerate the financial inclusion of low-income individuals.

"Habitat for Humanity has proven to be a leading organisation in providing housing and testing innovative solutions. We are confident that with Citi's continued support, Habitat for Humanity will implement and replicate even more impactful financial-inclusion efforts," she said.

Citi and the Citi Foundation have supported Habitat for Humanity since 1999, providing a total of $32 million to advance Habitat's mission of providing affordable homes for low-income families.

Habitat for Humanity International's Asia-Pacific housing finance director Patrick McAllister said the new funding would enable the organisation to work with savings institutions and provide housing support for the benefit of low-income families to improve their homes.

"Citi's grant will also allow Habitat to conduct research on savings for home improvement that will further benefit families across the Asia-Pacific region," he said.

Following the Indian Ocean tsunami, Citi worked with Habitat for Humanity on rebuilding projects in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Other current Citi-funded programmes include an annual home build in South Korea that incorporates a financial-education component and a recently-launched financial-education programme in Malaysia for low-income home-owners.

Speaking at the housing forum's closing ceremony, Habitat for Humanity International's chief executive Jonathan Reckford said that tackling the challenge of substandard housing and disasters had to involve mitigation - to avoid the unmanageable, and adaptation - to manage the unavoidable.

Speakers at the forum highlighted the need for housing policy, finance and technology focused on more resilient homes and communities, including disaster mitigation and response. It was pointed out that when disaster struck, tackling immediate needs was the understandable focus. However, without attention to longer-term recovery and reconstruction from the beginning, the transition from emergency response to reconstruction was disjointed and uncoordinated.

One of the recommendations put to the forum involved removal of difficulties faced by low-income families when trying to access housing loans. Sanong Roeysungnoen, a community leader from Chum Phae in Khon Kaen Province, said that obstacles like not having official identification or a credit history needed to be overcome by NGOs, civil society organisations and community groups, working together with governments and financial institutions.

"When you are poor, you cannot think of the future because you face eviction. But once you have secure housing, you can start to think about your welfare and that of your community. Once your house is secure, you can do a lot of things," he said.

At the event, property developer Raimon Land promised to share its expertise.

The company's deputy vice president for marketing, Kwanrudee Maneewongwattana, said that although Raimon Land was involved in luxury developments, it possessed "expertise in the development of high-quality residences that are sustainable and easy to integrate into surrounding communities".

"I believe that we are able to turn our experience into a telling contribution for the Asia-Pacific community," he said.