Understanding shelter needs

1Shelter: much more than a roof

Shelter fulfils several functions at once: it protects from the weather, heat and cold, it provides security and privacy, it preserves dignity and family life, and it enables people to resume activities, including economic ones. Inadequate shelter comes at a cost to health: respiratory infections, hypothermia, malaria, violence, particularly against women and girls.

The response is not limited to the structure. Sphere refers to shelter and settlement: a shelter is part of a neighbourhood, village or site, with its access routes, drainage, services (water, health, school, market) and livelihoods. In most crises, families first find shelter by their own means: with relatives, in rented housing, in public buildings or in their damaged homes. The humanitarian role is to support these strategies, not to systematically replace them with camps.

2The Sphere shelter and settlement standards

The 2018 Sphere Handbook contains seven standards: planning, location and settlement planning, living space, household items, technical assistance, security of tenure and environmental sustainability. Some essential benchmarks:

• Covered floor area: at least 3.5 m² per person, excluding cooking, bathing and sanitation spaces; in cold climates or urban settings where cooking and washing take place indoors, rather 4.5 to 5.5 m² per person.
• Planned camp-type settlements: at least 45 m² per person, including household plots (30 m² if communal services are provided outside the site).
• Fire prevention: a 30 m firebreak every 300 m of built-up area and a distance of at least 2 m between shelters, ideally twice the height of the structure.
• Location: safe land, outside areas prone to flooding or landslides, with a slope that allows drainage, and safe access to services.

These figures are indicators, not stand-alone targets: a shelter of 3.5 m² per person that is poorly ventilated, without privacy or a door that locks from the inside does not meet the standard.

3Assessing shelter and NFI needs

Assessment starts in the first hours and is refined afterwards. It combines secondary data (censuses, maps, reports), the multi-cluster/sector initial rapid assessment (MIRA) and shelter and NFI assessments through observation, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and household surveys. The aim is to find out:

• Where affected people are living: damaged house, host family, rented housing, spontaneous site, collective building, on the street.
• The level of damage to housing (minor, major, destroyed) and the causes of that damage.
• NFIs owned and missing, access to markets (materials, household items, rent) and prices.
• Tenure status (owner, tenant, informal occupant) and eviction risks.
• Local capacities: craftspeople, know-how, salvageable materials, mutual aid mechanisms.

Questions must be harmonised with the Shelter cluster so that data from several partners can be aggregated. Always consult women, men, older people and persons with disabilities separately: their needs and risks differ.

4Vulnerabilities, risks and climate

The same shelter does not have the same value everywhere. You must take into account the climate (rainy season, cyclones, extreme cold, extreme heat), hazards (floods, earthquakes, landslides), local building culture and practices (indoor or outdoor cooking, separation of spaces).

Some households need particular attention: female-headed or child-headed households, older people living alone, persons with disabilities, very large families, people without occupancy documents. The analysis must also identify shelter-related protection risks: overcrowding, no lock, insufficient lighting, distant latrines, exploitation by landlords. These elements guide both the choice of assistance option and the targeting criteria.