To reduce humanitarian need start with where and how homes are built

In a disaster, a family's safety, savings and future can all be protected or lost in one place: home.

The recent flash floods in Nepal left an estimated 2.2 million metric tons of debris, burying entire towns and villages. Wildfires in France and Spain forced more than 300,000 people from their homes in one of Europe's largest evacuation operations. Venezuela's June 2026 earthquake left 18,000 people without a home.

Extreme weather and natural hazards are placing homes and settlements under immense pressure. At the end of 2025, nearly 13.6 million people were internally displaced due to disasters. Losing a home reverberates through communities, disrupting livelihoods, education, health and access to essential services.

The resulting shelter and wider recovery (rehabilitation and reconstruction) needs are straining the already stretched humanitarian resources. In 2026, global humanitarian response plans have received only 30% of the $33.66 billion requested. Every disaster that leaves homes uninhabitable presents further demands, underscoring the urgency of reducing housing risk before the next emergency.

This requires coordination across systems shaping where and how people live. Decisions about land, infrastructure, design, construction, maintenance and finance are connected, as are the roles of governments, developers, financial institutions, builders and residents.

Three priorities can drive this effort: expanding access to safe land near jobs and essential services, translating building standards and codes into everyday practice, and making safer construction and retrofits affordable.

Putting safe land within reach

Safety begins with where construction is permitted. Using hazard data to guide urban growth, public infrastructure and development approvals helps steer construction away from exposed areas like floodplains or unstable mountain slopes.

Land-use decisions also need to reflect daily life. Families need access to jobs, transport, schools, water and healthcare. Investment in these services makes lower-risk areas realistic choices to live. Where people cannot immediately be relocated from vulnerable areas, measures tailored to withstand hazards can better protect existing communities.

Ecuador's capital, Quito, shows how this can work. Following devastating floods and landslides in 2022, its new land-use plan, made accessible through digital maps, now gives planners and residents a clear view of where and how the metropolitan district of nearly 2.84 million people can grow safely.

Developments in hazard-exposed areas undergo site-level risk assessments validated by the municipal risk authority. These choices reduce future displacement risk and the need for emergency shelter and humanitarian assistance.

Making building codes and standards work in practice

At construction sites, safety moves from policy to practice. Building codes establish enforceable rules governing what can be approved and built. Technical standards guide on how safety can be achieved, translating knowledge into specifications for construction.

Their effectiveness depends on locally appropriate designs suited to topography and climate; architects, masons and builders skilled in resilient construction techniques; and simple, inclusive processes for permits, inspections and approvals.

In Vietnam, successful local implementation of codes and standards has led to a systemic transformation. Since 2018, a community-driven initiative has enabled more than 5,000 lower-income families in the hazard-prone coastal provinces to build dwellings strong enough to withstand storms and floods.

Elevated floors, reinforced-concrete frames and firmly secured roofs have withstood successive storms, floods and tropical depressions. Lessons from this work have informed national standards for resilient housing that now extend to over 300,000 households.

Closing the affordability gap

Affordability matters as much as technical design in determining whether buildings can withstand disasters. Nearly 80% of the world's 1.1 billion people living in multidimensional poverty reside in regions exposed to climate hazards.

Where basic needs compete for scarce resources, the upfront costs of stronger materials, professional advice, permits and retrofits can place proven solutions beyond reach, especially when families build or improve houses in stages as money becomes available.

Housing reconstruction typically accounts for 35% to 50% of overall recovery needs after disasters. Much of this cost falls on homeowners. Without savings, affordable credit or insurance, rebuilding can consume assets accumulated over decades or prolong reliance on humanitarian support.

Closing this gap requires financing instruments designed to work at different scales. Grants, affordable credit and insurance can support households and developers, while cash reserves, contingent credit and sovereign risk-transfer instruments can provide governments with rapid liquidity after major events to aid efforts in providing those displaced with sustainable and resilient housing solutions.

Jamaica illustrates this layered approach. Following Hurricane Melissa in 2025, pre-arranged reserves, insurance, catastrophe bonds and contingent credit helped the government mobilize $662 million swiftly. At the same time, the National Housing Trust provided homeowners with grants, low-interest repair and strengthening loans, mortgage relief and insurance payouts.

Resilience starts at home

Humanitarian success is rightly measured by how many people receive timely assistance after a crisis. It must also be measured by the displacement, emergency shelter and reconstruction needs avoided through preventive investment.

When policy, finance and implementation work together to protect where people live, resilience takes root – strengthening communities today and expanding opportunity for generations to come.