Cost of Safety: Holistic Analysis of Market-Based Solutions for Housing in Haiti

Abstract

Access to affordable and safe housing represents a critical challenge for many low- and middle-income countries. Technical and economic constraints frequently lead aspiring homeowners in these countries toward informally and incrementally constructed, nonengineered masonry homes, which often prove deadly when exposed to seismic or hydrometeorological hazards. This work offers a holistic analysis of market-based housing solutions in Haiti to quantify the cost of safety: How much more would an engineered home cost? In the first step of the analysis, candidate typologies are identified, considering feasibility constraints and cultural norms, and are compared based on actual market cost bids utilizing standardized designs. The promoted solutions are further examined in the second step, considering different designs and assessing their appropriateness within a multiobjective setting, separately evaluating price, safety, and constructability. In the final step, performance of the dominant designs is evaluated in detail, considering critical hazard exposure. For the case study scenario of Haiti, analysis shows that code-compliant reinforced concrete moment-resisting frames (MRFs) with concrete masonry unit infill can be cost competitive (in this specific market)—approximately 30% more expensive than unreinforced masonry, which is the traditional typology in this setting despite its minimal safety against regional hazards. As with confined masonry—which is another candidate solution for the region—quality control and access to standardized preengineered floorplans is critical to achieving the desired performance, considering the high regional seismicity. The performance assessment shows that the expected ductility demands under the maximum considered earthquake are still satisfied even if only an intermediate MRF is achieved in practice. This suggests that the limited market for aseismic housing typologies in Haiti, currently dominated by confined masonry, can potentially be expanded to include standardized preengineered MRF floorplans that afford additional flexibilities in finishes to support late-stage design decisions and progressive expansion with time.