Addressing regulatory barriers to providing emergency and transitional shelter in a rapid and equitable manner after natural disasters

Material Information

Title:
Addressing regulatory barriers to providing emergency and transitional shelter in a rapid and equitable manner after natural disasters
Creator:
International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Disaster Risk Reduction Program, Florida International University (DRR/FIU) ( summary contributor )
Publisher:
International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Publication Date:
Copyright Date:
2011
Language:
English

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Emergency housing ( lcshac )
Housing ( lcshac )
unknownNatural hazards and disasters ( lcshac )
Genre:
non-fiction ( marcgt )
conference publication ( marcgt )

Notes

Summary:
This is a background report on an international conference on addressing regulatory barriers to providing emergency and transitional shelter after natural disasters. The report hopes to facilitate a dialogue between stakeholders on existing problems and potential solutions. Large-scale displacement resulting from natural disasters in recent years has prompted the Red Cross and Red Crescent and their humanitarian partners to scale up their work in the area of emergency shelter. It has been realized that regulatory barriers are among the biggest obstacles the humanitarian aid agencies face in providing emergency and transitional shelter in a rapid and equitable manner. The report starts the discussion explaining why the focus is on regulatory barriers. Issues identified are: gaps in documented evidence of ownership rights; opportunistic land claims or ‘land grabs’; insecurity of renters and squatters; absence of rapid and effective dispute resolution mechanisms; inequitable assistance as between documented owners and others; absence of effective procedures for temporarily requisitioning land; problems with land planning rules, building standards, and environmental protection regulations; corruption; and problems specific to international shelter assistance. The report also discusses existing international norms and tools concerning regulatory barriers. Next section of the report provides some anecdotal examples of innovation and good practice that might be replicated elsewhere. Solutions suggested by such innovations are: procedures for rapid verification or conferral of tenure; special mechanisms for settling disputes; procedures for quickly obtaining the use of ‘new’ land for shelters; reducing inequities in the provision of emergency and transitional shelter; building standards for emergency and transitional shelters; procedures for reducing corruption risks; steps for improving the facilitation, regulation and coordination of international responders; and ensuring that landless persons are not ‘trapped’ in transitional housing. The report concludes that a more proactive approach with a focus on preparedness is needed because without prior planning and discussion, simply bringing out the relevant international manuals after a disaster has struck is unlikely to be sufficient. The report also encourages the national stakeholders to cooperate in informal ‘audits’ of the national regulatory environment for providing post-disaster shelter. ( English )
Subject:
Shelter ( English )
Citation/Reference:
(2011). Addressing regulatory barriers to providing emergency and transitional shelter in a rapid and equitable manner after natural disasters. International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

Record Information

Source Institution:
Florida International University
Rights Management:
Refer to main document/publisher for use rights.

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Aggregations:
Disaster Risk Reduction