The Support Group for Returnees and Refugees (GARR) has inaugurated in Lacolline and Décauville, 47 housing units for displaced families. Each unit has two bedrooms, a dining room, kitchen and a small gallery. According to the chief engineer Benoit Bernardin, the cost of these houses built with funding from the NGO Christian Aid, is estimated to USD$11,000 unit, taking into account the participation in labor of the beneficiaries estimated to USD$2,000.

During a follow-up and evaluation visit, mid-September, the Board of GARR, has proceeded with the delivery of the first keys to 25 beneficiaries of the "Solidarity Village" of Décauville.

Upon receiving the key to her new home from the hands of a Board member, Josseline Pierre, one of the beneficiaries, declared with great emotion mixed with joy, "Is it a dream or a reality? [...] I can not believe it ! I hastened to open the door to see if I'm not asleep."

In his exchanges with the beneficiaries, Charles Chavannes, President of the Board of GARR, said that the right to own a home was far from a favor but rather a basic human right like a set rights.

Concluding his exchanges, the representative of GARR declared that it was important that the state authorities explain their policies in matters of housing and social protection for the hundreds of thousands of displaced who are still living in camps.

HL/ HaitiLibre