UNRWA’s Shelter Rehabilitation Program aims to rehabilitate, repair or reconstruct 150 of the most hazardous shelters in the West Bank. There are 19 camps in the West Bank and much of their housing has not been expanded or upgraded since they were originally constructed despite a massive population boom and years of use.

For most families, already deep in poverty, home repairs are too costly and the longer-term dangers of living in an unstable or toxic structure are outweighed by more immediate concerns such as food, education, and healthcare. Even if every penny of discretionary income was saved for home repairs, it would still take at least two years for the average camp-dwelling family to save enough for home repairs.

The Shelter Rehabilitation Program lowers the cost of rehabilitation by providing cash, material, and employment assistance to the family, or by using local contractors to help complete the work. Shelters will be brought up to SPHERE standards, the international standard for minimum standard for disaster relief, making them safe, healthy, and dignified places to live. Along with injecting cash into ailing local economies, this program gives approximately 750 people (150 families) healthy and dignified housing.