Hebron Old City Rehabilitation Programme

1

Hebron Old City Rehabilitation Programme

Mismatches Functional adequacy
Policies and regulations Planning
Promotion and production Participatory processes Transformation and adaptation

Main objectives of the project

The Hebron Rehabilitation Committee (HRC) is a semi-governmental organisation dedicated to the revitalisation of the Old City of Hebron. The HRC offices are located within the Old City, in an area which is currently under Israeli military control. The main components of the project include the securing of decent housing, infrastructure and services, the stimulation of economic activity, and the provision of legal assistance to protect the residents’ rights. As a result of the programme, several thousand new residents have moved into the Old City. Economic conditions are improving and the social fabric of the area has been strengthened by social integration awareness and community participation.

Date

  • 2013: Ganador

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: World Habitat

Location

Continent: Africa
City: Tel Aviv-Yafo
Country/Region: Israel, Tel Aviv

Description

Project Description

Aims and Objectives

The Hebron Rehabilitation Committee (HRC) was established as a semi-governmental organisation in 1996 by a presidential declaration from former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in order to rehabilitate the Old City of Hebron. The programme’s key objectives include the re-population of the deteriorated city centre, the preservation of cultural heritage, local economic development, the engagement of the population and the provision of affordable housing.

Context

Hebron is one of the oldest cities in the world, having been continuously inhabited for over 5,000 years. Its historic centre is characterised by the density of its architectural fabric, narrow, winding streets and stone masonry structures of significant heritage value. Following the Israeli occupation of the Old City in 1967, the area was progressively abandoned and over time the physical condition of the city’s old buildings had badly deteriorated. Curfews, closures, difficulties with Israeli settlers and tight restrictions on the movement of residents, together with increasing economic problems, caused most residents to leave the area, leaving only those who were socially marginalised and unable to afford to live elsewhere. By 1995, approximately 9,500 Palestinian residents had left, with less than 400 remaining. The economic life of the Old City was also severely affected, with the closure of 77 per cent of its shops and commercial activities.

Key features

The Hebron Old City Rehabilitation Programme involves the restoration and reuse of historic buildings in Hebron’s Old City for housing purposes, combined with improvements to public spaces, urban infrastructure and services, social and legal assistance and measures to stimulate job creation and develop the local economy. The programme comprises the following four key areas:

  • Housing: Through a sensitive rehabilitation and restoration process using traditional techniques and materials, over 1,000 housing units have been renovated and are now inhabited by approximately 6,000 people (78 per cent of whom are tenants and 22 per cent of whom are owner occupiers). Large residential properties originally built to accommodate extended families of 20 or more people have been converted into smaller apartments to adapt to current cultural and household requirements. Local residents are employed and locally produced materials are used wherever possible.
  • Infrastructure and services: Social assistance, education and health care is provided to low-income families free of charge and a community centre, children’s playgrounds and public gardens have been established. Infrastructure upgrading has included a new sewerage network, water and electricity supply, improvement of paved areas, sidewalks and stairs, planting of trees, handrail installation and street lighting. Public spaces, formerly used as dumping grounds, have been reclaimed.
  • Social development: The programme has increasingly focussed on the social development and enhanced the role of residents in the revitalisation process through the implementation of several awareness programs and activities.
  • Economic development: The programme has increasingly focussed its work on reviving local economic activity and creating jobs in and around the Old City in an effort to reduce poverty and unemployment. Shops have been restored and various activities have been organised to encourage tourism. A vocational training school was established in 2009 in partnership with the Spanish government.
  • Human rights: With funding from the Norwegian government, HRC has established a comprehensive programme aiming at the protection of Old City residents from human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests, physical abuse, damage to property, expropriation of houses and land, closing of streets and business to Palestinians and preventing rehabilitation of building in the Old City. By providing legal assistance, HRC hopes to create an environment of accountability that will contribute towards the safety of the community and prevent future depopulation.

Covering costs

  • Funding for the programme has been obtained from a range of sources, including the Palestinian National Authority, other government sources and international multi- and bilateral donors including many European governments. Since the beginning of the programme in 1996, more than US$32 million has been received from over 20 donors in 16 countries to cover the costs of housing rehabilitation, urban infrastructure provision, training, economic development and social and legal assistance for the residents of the Old City. The average cost per unit for housing rehabilitation is US$26,000.
  • On-going operating costs of the programme are met through a combination of grants from national and international donors, other revenues and in-kind donations, totalling approximately US$2.7 million per year.
  • Funding in the amount of US$600,000 was provided by AECID for the establishment of a vocational training school in 2009.

Impact

  • More than 6,000 people are now living in the Old City, ensuring the continuous use and maintenance of historical buildings and urban spaces that had previously been abandoned. The more than tenfold increase in the number of people living within the rehabilitation programme area has been the most important indicator of the success of the programme.
  • Rehabilitation of infrastructure, services and public spaces has significantly improved the living conditions in the Old City.
  • The legal unit of HRC has assisted shop owners and families in getting back properties that had been closed down or expropriated through a ruling in the Israeli Supreme Court. Rulings such as this have protected the rights of the Palestinians.
    Over 160 shop owners have reopened their shops and 207 permanent jobs have been created to date.

Why is it innovative?

  • Combining heritage preservation (carried out in accordance with international conservation standards) with job creation and the provision of high-quality affordable housing for low-income families in central areas, making use of existing infrastructure.
  • Adaptation of residential buildings originally built to accommodate extended families into separate, independent single-family apartments, addressing changing household needs and the transition from extended to nuclear family structures.
  • Broad partnership with a range of international organisations and donors as well as local and national government agencies.
  • Providing an example of how to address a difficult situation of military occupation and urban conflict in a peaceful manner.

What is the environmental impact?

  • Restoration and reuse of existing buildings with traditional, locally available materials with low embodied energy, such as stone masonry, handmade tiles and lime renders.
  • The original elements of old houses were preserved, such as the thickness of the stone masonry walls, minimising the loss of energy and allowing for both protection from the heat of the day and retaining warmth on cold nights. The programme also involves the installation of improved water and sewerage networks and a water-cooling system on the parapet roofs.
  • A drainage and rainwater collection system has been designed which separates rainwater from waste water and helps to prevent flooding. The improved sanitation system has had a positive effect on health as well as the environment.

Is it financially sustainable?

  • Whilst the programme relies on national and international grant funding for its operations, partnerships and funding arrangements with a wide range of organisations helps to reduce the reliance on a single funding stream.
  • The programme has been running successfully for 17 years and funding is in place for on-going activities in the coming years.
  • The programme promotes the use of labour-intensive methods as a means to create sustainable employment opportunities, provide specialised training on traditional methods of conservation and increase the level of income of the community. More than 1.7 million working days have been created from the beginning of the project. Graduates from the vocational training school for restoration established by HRC represent 20 per cent of the contracted workforce.
  • A job creation programme has been implemented to provide Palestinian refugees with short-term job opportunities in order to financially assist them with a monthly salary of up to US$420. Workers were placed in different positions according to their health capabilities and their specialisations.
  • HRC is implementing measures to revitalise the economy and encourage tourism. Forty-one shops have been restored in the old market to date.
  • Residents have access to extremely favourable rents (avg. US$200/month), including an initial five year rent-free period. Those on lowest incomes also have access to multiple free services (including electricity, water, health insurance) and tax reductions. These benefits are provided as an incentive to stimulate the repopulation of the Old City and have made housing of acceptable quality affordable for those on very low incomes.

What is the social impact?

  • A range of social development initiatives have been established to facilitate greater community cooperation, including setting up a community centre, outreach activities, school trips to the Old City and special activities for young people.
  • An overall achievement of the programme has been the reintegration of the Old City into the social fabric of Hebron as previously decayed areas separating the two parts of the city have been restored, fostering movement between them.
  • The improvements to basic infrastructure and services, particularly in terms of the availability of safe drinking water and sanitation, in the area have a positive effect on residents’ health. Sixty per cent of residents receive free health insurance.
  • The legal assistance provided by HRC helps to protect residents against human rights violations and seeks to create an environment of greater accountability by the military forces and settler groups within the Old City.
  • HRC works to address the urgent housing needs of the most marginalised in Hebron, seeking to reduce existing social inequalities. The rehabilitation programme has a number of initiatives that target specific groups including, for example, vocational training activities for women, activities with disabled persons and income-generating activities for refugees.
  • Residents are involved in the planning stages of the programme and in wider decisions affecting the community.
  • Awareness-raising activities and the work of the human rights unit encourage residents to take a more active role in society.

Barriers

  • A key barrier is the presence of Israeli settlements in the Old City, where it is difficult to get permission to work and where Israeli military forces on many occasions have prevented tasks from being carried out. The closure of access roads to the Old City has made it difficult to bring in building materials. Despite the extended curfews, closures and restrictions on movement, HRC has managed to achieve a great deal under difficult circumstances. In order to bypass a ban on motorised vehicles in the Old City, HRC uses horse-drawn carts.
  • There was a lack of comprehensive maps of the Old City, its historic areas and buildings and its relationship to the city of Hebron as a whole. HRC engaged in gathering of information and mapping of the area.
  • The integration of the community with the rest of the city has been a key challenge. The vast majority of residents are poor since those that had the means to live elsewhere left. HRC has undertaken a comprehensive approach, from restoration and service provision to addressing broader issues of fragmentation, social erosion and unemployment.
  • A key barrier encountered was the restoration of the extended family homes of multiple occupancy and ownership. A house may have a large number of different owners, most of who live outside the Old City or even outside the country. The solution has been a double-lease system: HRC negotiates a contract with the owners according to which the organisation leases a building for free for a period of five years. Once renovation is complete, the owners can either return to the home or HRC lets the apartments for free for another five years. When those five years are up, the tenant is entitled to keep the apartment by signing a new rent-controlled contract with the owners.

Lessons Learned

  • In addition to housing, it was essential to provide public facilities, services and parks within the Old City. This has led to positive effects in terms of raising cultural and environmental awareness and providing much needed recreational facilities. A focus on wider social and economic issues is key to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the approach.
  • Lessons were derived from the adaptation of the extended family houses into smaller, more modern housing units that better fit the current needs of residents. HRC has documented these adapted buildings and trained a team to ensure the accessibility of this information to future researchers and renovators for their future work.
  • Citizens are the ones playing the most important role in the preservation and revitalisation process, the involvement of local community is essential to guarantee its sustainability.

Evaluation

Regular monitoring and evaluation of the programme is carried out by HRC. Donor agencies also commission and/or carry out periodic studies to assess the impact of the programme and inform the allocation of funds. This has led, for example, to an expansion of activities and an increased focus on measures to address issues of social cohesion and economic development.

Transfer

From the initial restorations in 1996, the work of HRC has since grown, reaching two-thirds of the historic buildings in the Old City by 2013, and plans are in place to rehabilitate the remaining buildings and public spaces.

HRC has also expanded the scope of its activities to address wider social and environmental issues.

HRC has been invited by a number of government agencies and private institutions to advise them on service provision and how to build positive relationships with residents.

Solutions have been developed along with the Hebron Municipality for the rehabilitation of streets and infrastructure across the rest of the city.

Nationally, the renovation standards set by the HRC have been used as a technical basis for other similar projects, including the Bethlehem 2000 project.

HRC regularly organises workshops, training sessions and study trips to share its experience in heritage preservation and housing provision to students, institutions and international visitors.

Authors:

The 100,000 Homes Campaign

0

The 100,000 Homes Campaign

Mismatches Services
Policies and regulations Regulation
Promotion and production Self-promotion
Ownership and tenure Shared ownership

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2013: Ganador

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: World Habitat

Location

Continent: North America
Country/Region: New York, United States of America

Description

The 100,000 Homes Campaign is part of the strategy of the NGO Community Solutions (CS) to end homelessness in the USA, advocating and transferring the proven ‘Street to Home’ method pioneered in New York to communities elsewhere. A network of almost 100 organisations is committed to this work at the local or national level in addition to implementation teams in 190 participating communities. The Campaign started in July 2010 and ended in July 2014.

Project Description

Aims and Objectives

The Campaign intends to build a national grassroots movement with the purpose of finding and permanently housing 100,000 of the most long-term and vulnerable people experiencing homelessness by 2014. The objective is to change the way that communities respond to homelessness and to shift efforts away from emergency responses to long-term solutions.

Context

Around 650,000 people are homeless in the USA on any given night, and from 1.5 to 2 million over the course of the year. For most, homelessness is short-term, but for roughly 100,000 it becomes chronic. They have complex needs that prolong homelessness and make them dependent on costly government services that fail to deliver lasting or cost effective results. The 17 per cent chronically homeless consume over half of the resources dedicated to homelessness. Long-term homelessness seriously affects health; the average lifespan of a chronically homeless person is 25 years less than that of the average American. Previously, communities often provided housing on a first-come first-serve basis, rather than targeting those most in need.

Key features

The Campaign employs an innovative process of movement building and quality improvement methods to create two significant changes at the community level: a registry of all homeless persons and a plan to move 2.5 per cent of the chronic and vulnerable homeless population into permanent housing each month. In this context, a community is a multi-faceted term defined locally, encompassing a definition of space, but also of participating organisations and resources. This involves the following process:

  • CS recruits prioritised communities into the movement; 190 communities have now enrolled and this number is still growing.
  • A team is built from as many local sectors as possible. Free training is provided in Registry Week Boot Camps for a two-day orientation to the tools of the Campaign and the variety of resources available. Additionally, Veteran specific Boot Camps, hosted with the Rapid Results Institute, have trained 20 communities during three days and further coached during 100 days to rehouse veterans more quickly.
  • A Registry Week in which hundreds of volunteers canvas the streets between 04.00am and 06.00am for three consecutive mornings to survey each person sleeping outside using the Vulnerability Index, a tool created by Community Solutions. This creates a by-name and by-photograph registry of all homeless persons, ranked by risk of premature mortality. This information enables data-driven negotiations about housing and support systems. So far, over 100 communities have completed a registry of homeless persons.
  • The needs of individual homeless people are matched with housing options, necessary health and employment support, as well as Critical Time Intervention support to enable them to maintain their independence in their own home. Enrolled communities across the USA have found innovative ways to line up housing and services, and of discovering resources they had so far not tapped into. The Campaign has a national network of like-minded communities and mentors to find new ways to secure units, funding and support.
  • Each community receives a monthly progress report that compares their progress against standard benchmarks.

The Campaign has a full-time director of strategic partnerships based in Washington D.C. who connects the grassroots work with high level officials and organisations. This person works closely with several central government departments and over two dozen strategic partners with whom CS synchronises efforts to move vulnerable homeless persons into permanent housing.

Covering costs

  • The cost of the Campaign is US$1.5 million per year, funded mostly by foundations (12 in 2012) and corporations (KNO Clothing). In 2013, CS will receive more significant funding from the federal government and from a national veterans’ advocacy project, but much of the Campaign’s costs will still be funded from philanthropic contributions. No capital investment was required to launch or operate the Campaign.

There currently is no cost to the participating communities. At the conclusion of the Campaign, CS plans to continue many of the consultancy services to communities for a fee. Sixty per cent of income in 2015 is projected to come from fees for turning real estate into housing for homeless persons with donations and government grants contributing 20 per cent each.

Impact

Over 44,000 long-term and medically vulnerable homeless people have been permanently housed to date. Twenty-eight communities are currently meeting their 2.5 per cent monthly placement targets, up from 13 half a year ago. The Campaign advocates strategies that have a proven retention rate of 85 per cent; a survey showed an actual retention of 90 per cent after one year in housing. Hospital costs were vastly reduced, as was return to jail. Levels of income and employment increased. Some of the innovative tools are effective, e.g. the ‘Rapid Results Housing Placement Boot Camp’ has already helped four (out of 20) communities double their placement rate. Nine communities reduced the time it takes to move veterans into housing, some by 75 per cent. Three communities improved their targeting of chronically homeless veterans; e.g. from 26 to 93 per cent in Atlanta. Such boot camps will be rolled out to 40 communities focusing on non-veterans in 2013. Rapid-results teams also report changes in mindset, behaviours and processes that carry the effect beyond their lifespan, e.g.

  • Unprecedented levels of collaboration between and across agencies and not-for-profit organisations active in the community.
  • Various versions of ‘one-stop shops’ for housing solutions have been implemented to streamline housing placement efforts.
  • More staff has been involved in going directly to homeless persons, with more delegation to these frontline staff.
  • Heightened awareness about the need to focus on chronically homeless individuals.
  • Deeper engagement of the local mayor’s office in the process and resulting support.

Beyond that, it has enabled data-based dialogue between national leaders and grassroots leaders, partnering to identify solutions to chronic homelessness based on what actually works at local level. In over 189 communities there has been a transformation of their response to homelessness resulting in a wider ‘can-do’ attitude to tackle complex social problems. Some communities have gone on to address other issues as well.

Additionally, there have been many policy changes that have taken place as a result of the project; some of the most important include:

  • Dozens of public housing authorities have created ‘local limited preferences’ which enable homeless people who meet the criteria for chronic or vulnerable homeless to effectively move to the front of the waiting list for housing.
  • Multiple government agencies created a ‘one stop’ model where veterans could be issued with a voucher for permanent housing on the same day they applied.
  • Local Public Housing Authorities’ Administrative Plans were amended to prioritise chronically homeless persons.
  • Local agencies have condensed administrative paperwork, creating a Unified Application between agencies.

Why is it innovative?

  • An overarching goal that helps mobilise groups into action and quickly captures attention and support. It also changes the focus from providing housing on a first-come, first-serve basis to medically fragile and chronically homeless persons.
  • The Continuous Quality Improvement approach uses data collected on a large scale to feed into the entire human services and housing sector.
  • A unique set of simple replicable tools to gather and assess data, monitor progress and quality, and help communities transform their response to housing vulnerable people, overcome barriers and improve their housing placement.

What is the environmental impact?

  • The Campaign does not undertake building work itself. In most cases, existing buildings have been used by participating organisations to provide housing for homeless persons. The Campaign is respectful of environmental principles. For example, communities are trained on how to use existing resources efficiently, and that ending homelessness needs resource coordination, not building new facilities.
  • Taking people off the streets into secure accommodation has positive public health impacts.

Is it financially sustainable?

  • The Campaign is funded from public and private sources. It is now building relationships with federal government partners to establish a fee for service arrangement that could expand its reach. When it ends, CS intends to continue to provide improvement and data management services at a modest fee. The Campaign is already demonstrating a series of cost-efficient solutions that could be suggested as alternatives to government.
  • The Campaign believes that the best way of ending homelessness permanently is to provide an integrated but tailored package of housing + health + employment support.
  • Where relevant, homeless people receive employment support, which has increased income and employment. Having a permanent address is important in being able to access employment.
  • Housing is made much more accessible to chronically homeless persons.
  • The involvement of communities and a wide range of partners has enabled the development of innovative solutions and the pooling of resources that have made the provision of housing to homeless persons more cost-effective.

What is the social impact?

  • There is more engagement and collaboration, both within and between communities (e.g. by over 7,000 people volunteering) and with external support agencies on the issue of homelessness, of the ‘can-do’ attitude this generates. Communities are able to apply the methods for collective problem solving used to tackle homelessness to other problems in society.
  • The Campaign provides capacity building and support to enrolled communities, and has developed various tools to help communities tackle homelessness, e.g. boot camps, self-assessment tool, barrier-jumping toolkits, and provided more intensive support to the low-performers. As a result, communities have performed much better in dealing with homeless persons.
  • Moving people from the streets, where their health and safety are at great risk, to stable housing almost always has a positive impact. Over half of homeless adults struggle with mental illness. Data of 2011 put the average annual cost of providing supportive housing to an adult at US$24,190, as against a cost of US$56,350 for emergency, inpatient and crisis services to a homeless individual with mental illness. Philadelphia now has a programme that targets Medicaid funds to support housing for homeless people and there is a growing effort to make that happen at national level.
  • The Campaign is ensuring that the needs of medically vulnerable and chronically homeless persons receive greater priority. As these are the most marginalised of homeless persons, and arguably of society, this has the effect of reducing social inequality.
  • There is some evidence of individual people, who were previously homeless, reducing or eliminating their dependency on drugs or alcohol, becoming employed, staying in schools, etc. with the effect of them becoming less isolated and taking a more active role in society.

Barriers

A study of community performance in 2012 identified the following barriers and challenges:

  • Local laws, culture and customs, geography and climate, and politics and feelings regarding race and class, often present a unique set of barriers in each community. Such differences make comparisons difficult and can make a one-size-fits-all approach to reducing barriers fail. Tools that can be customised in the unique context of each community are needed.
  • While all communities could provide examples of ‘Housing First’ (the practice of helping homeless persons from the street directly into housing, without conditions), no community has yet been able to adopt Housing First as a uniform standard. Similarly, while most communities were able to offer examples of programmes that use a harm reduction approach (the practice of gradually weaning a person off drug or alcohol abuse), no community is close to using it consistently.
  • While each community was able to demonstrate high-performing programmes, only one showed evidence of a truly unified homeless and housing placement system. For the most part local ‘systems’ consist of many semi-autonomous efforts.

Lessons Learned

In addition to the above points, the following lessons were noted:

  • The vulnerability registries provide communities with actionable data and a practical method for targeting their efforts.
  • The power of data and regular sharing helps leaders understand their system and provide targets for improvement.
  • Higher performing communities appeared to have ‘champions’, who are placed at a sufficiently high level to affect systems or programmes. Lower-performing communities still had champions, but less powerful, or had lost their leading advocates.
  • It was critical to ensure that all key players attended the Boot Camp Launch, participated in setting local goals and building the 100-day local work plan. National and regional partners were also needed, to clarify policies and enable local success.
  • The Campaign aims to move chronically homeless people to the top of waiting lists, thus moving short-term homeless people down. But the housing sector has evolved and they now have access to less expensive and equally effective interventions that were previously unavailable, such as rapid rehousing support.

Evaluation

  • The Campaign currently provides enrolled communities with monthly feedback reports against the 2.5 per cent homelessness reduction target and in comparison with four similar communities.
  • The Centre for Urban Community Services is retained as Quality Assurance provider for the Campaign, providing third party monitoring of data. It also conducted a qualitative study in 2012 of three high and three low performing communities that identified 19 factors associated with successful placement performance. A self-assessment tool by which communities can identify performance gaps against 19 indicators is being tested and will then be shared with enrolled communities. Barrier-jumping toolkits have been developed to help communities implement improvements in each of the 19 factors.
  • Funding has been received for an evaluation in the final year of the Campaign (2014).

Transfer

The Campaign is a scaling-up process in itself, taking a proven approach in New York, to the USA as a whole and beyond. The Campaign team itself attempts to accept as many invitations as possible to visit external organisations in the USA and abroad to discuss and advocate the Campaign’s methodology.

The Campaign now works on a regular basis with 190 local coalitions across the USA.

The approach has been discussed with political and community leaders in Canada, Australia, Ireland and Belgium. In the first two, this has now led to similar campaigns; support has been provided to five cities or regions. In Brisbane, the Vulnerability Index and Registry Weeks methodologies were applied to triage flood victims and rehouse them very rapidly. Take up in Ireland and Belgium is imminent.

Authors: