Contact Canada-Haïti : Topicality

The author, from Montréal of Haitian origin, graduate in Communication Sciences from the University of Montreal, explains here that the shortage of residences in Haiti is so serious that even Haitians of the Diaspora, generally more fortunate, who would like to return to the country or to go there for visit, cannot find there suitable housing.

HOUSING CRISIS IN HAITI

Following the recent voyage in Haiti of the Prime Minister of Canada the Right Honorable Paul Martin in November 2004, many Haitians of the Diaspora propose to return in their native country where, among other challenges, the possibilities of comfortable dwellings do not fail to be lacking. But one expects that this housing crisis becomes even more alarming as political stability in Haiti settled and that more significant waves of wealthy Haitians, and North-American tourists will flow towards that country.

Without falling into a happy optimism concerning the near possibility from a durable social climate, economically and politically healthy, the housing market, which is hardly negligible, deserves as of now some attention.

Dissatisfied market

Admittedly, Haïti is known as one of the poorest countries of the hemisphere. The great majority of the population can thus hardly hope, in the short or mid term, to be housed decently. There are, however, significant customers, financially sound, but who do not yet find an answer to their housing needs. Those customers, first of all, consist of professionals Haitians, of the Diaspora, who return to the country to remain there permanently ; those customers consist also of those who annually spend there their holidays with their family. We also know that a potential mass of North-American tourists, and mainly people from Quebec, do not wait until the situation is favorable to enjoy the sunny beaches of that area of the Caribbean.

Concerning professionals Haitians, members of the Diaspora, who return to the country temporarily or who are reinstalled there with their families, their life style, to which they were accustomed during their long stay abroad, creates in them needs for a type of housing that they cannot currently find in Haiti. As for the North-American tourists, the hotel infrastructure, still very unsatisfactory, is more and more worsened by the complete absence of accommodations, requested by the people who want to take their family with them for vacation. Solution : the condominium.

This type of housing, the condo, is also very in demand by the Haitian customers. It meets the needs for quality of life, sought by the often numerous Haitian families coming for their holidays, but being able with difficulty to remain, either at their parents’ place, whose residences are generally very tiny, or in the rare residences available, whose comfort leaves something to be desired. It also meets the demands of the families who are eager to settle permanently in the country. The dwellings traditionally built by the local promoters not only are far from adapted to the life style of these customers, but also, they are built with a distressing slowness and insecurity.

Generally, Haitians of the Diaspora as well as all the North-Americans would like housings whose space is well arranged, and preferably located near the sea. That is what the condo offers. And Canada already proved to be reliable in that field.

Assets of Canada

In the field of the condo built on the tropical shores, Canadian successes, for a few years, have been recorded. The case of builders from Montreal is very significant. One of them, the Group Lépine, has built a whole complex of condominiums on the beaches of Florida. Known in Quebec particularl- for its Pyramids of the Olympic Village, its Sanctuary of Mont-Royal, its Sir Robert Peel, its recent "1200 Ouest de Maisonneuve" - in Montreal - as well as its Laurier Tower in Ottawa it was, as well as others, spear heading that sector where Canadian builders followed the lead, its achievements having borne their fruits.

It is thus to be anticipated that, once political stability in Haïti is established, promoters of that category will be interested in addressing the expectations in that country in regards to condominiums. The Canadian expertise in that field is not any more to show and the capital is far from missing. Moreover, the market will certainly not fail to be extremely lucrative, the more so since the formula of the condo is not yet really established in Haïti.

Other assets come to militate in favor of the promoters from Quebec : the public image of Canada as it has just been underlined over there, membership of Haiti as part of the French speaking countries and strong concentration of Haitians in Quebec.

In Haiti, the marvelous sites ready to accommodate the establishment of such projects are still very numerous. It is enough to think of the Anse d’Azur in Jérémie, of Kyona not far from Port-au-Prince or, towards "Montrouis" close to Saint-Marc, of that splendid white sand beach where the sunny sea so limpid and calm is called Amani-y-les bains! Moreover, labor is cheap there in this "Taiwan of the Caribbean", and local customers will without any doubt be interested in this type of dwelling, the condominium. In exchange, Haiti will be able to inherit housing complexes which adequately meet the needs of the tourists, as well as the needs of Haitians. Some people of the country will also be able to possibly profit from technical training in that sector.

Thus it appears clearly that there is an increased request for condos in Haïti, which waits to be satisfied only once political stability has been established. Canada seems to be best placed to meet such a need, provided that it does not remain eternally in a waiting mode, whereas the international competition is increasingly pressing. In this field, more than anywhere elsewhere, the co-operation between Canada and Haiti will not fail to be profitable for the two partners.

Courtesy of the president Rene G. Lepine