Haiti has experienced many major challenges through the years, yet its resilient people have endured. They have had to face unrest, upheaval, hurricanes and earthquakes, but in many cases, families’ beautiful faith remains strong. Still, while families in rural communities often experience a greater level of peace (insulated from turmoil in the capital), they face extreme hardships when it comes to securing the things they need.
One of the greatest barriers for these families is the lack of adequate housing. Since 2005, Cross Catholic Outreach has sought to address this issue by working with partners like the Kobonal Haiti Mission to build safe homes for poor families in rural Haiti. In fact, just last year, we were able to help the mission construct 50 houses for families in deepest need — and this year, we want to do it again!
Building homes does more than provide safer shelter. It represents a critical step toward improving the overall quality of life for families and helps foster sustainable development for communities. In this blog, learn more about Haiti’s housing crisis and the steps U.S. Catholics are taking to produce real change!
In rural Haiti, many families live in makeshift structures constructed from substandard or castaway materials — things like corrugated metal, scrap wood and plastic tarps. Those flimsy houses offer very little protection from the wind, rain and beating sun, and they can easily collapse during a severe storm. During the hurricane season, which runs from June to November, families are especially vulnerable to storms and flooding. Because these homes often have gaps in the walls and simple windows and doors, there’s nothing to keep out bugs, rats, snakes — or worse yet, human intruders.
The lack of safe, sturdy shelter has a negative impact on many areas of a family’s life, including:
Related: How Safe Housing Creates Opportunities for Poor Haitian Families
To eliminate these threats and build safe, sturdy homes for families in need, Cross Catholic Outreach works with trusted local ministry partners, including the Kobonal Haiti Mission.
For more than 20 years, our relationship with the Kobonal Haiti Mission has blessed thousands of families in Haiti’s Central Plateau. Support from generous U.S. Catholics has enabled us to feed hungry families, install clean wells, ensure education for children, empower parents with small-business opportunities — and build strong, simple houses for those in urgent need. Through the decades, these development programs have transformed lives and even entire communities, and locals testify to the incredible difference the Catholic Church has made in that part of the country. In fact, many people who once moved away to seek opportunities in the capital have now returned to Kobonal, craving the peace and strong community that exists there.
Homes built by the Kobonal Haiti Mission can be cost-effectively constructed for just $13,141 apiece. Each house has four rooms and an earthquake- and hurricane-resistant model, complete with a cement foundation, concrete-block walls, a galvanized steel roof, a metal door and shuttered windows. They are also equipped with an outdoor sanitary latrine and a solar lighting system, ensuring that families do not pay ongoing electricity fees.
Throughout the construction process, able-bodied beneficiaries contribute by providing labor (e.g., clearing the land) and even supplying materials (e.g., gravel for cement mixing or food for workers). Not only does this help keep costs low — it also gives the families an important sense of pride and ownership in their new homes.
For decades, Emma and Thelius raised their children in a leaky shelter made of mud, wood and hole-ridden fabric sheets. Thelius is a farmer and Emma sells food to help support the family, but no matter how hard they tried, they could not earn enough to improve their living conditions.
Emma described their situation this way: “I don’t feel comfortable because I’m sleeping [and] the water is running and wetting the children’s bed. While I’m talking to you, my clothes are all soaked. … You feel that you live in an unpleasant condition. You sleep in a bad posture. This causes that you don’t breathe well enough. When it’s flooded inside and outside, you can’t breathe well. And when the rainwater wets the sheets that the children sleep with, I have to take them off. The house is destroyed.”
We’re happy to say that this family is receiving help through the Kobonal Haiti Mission, but many more families remain in urgent need. Adeline Joseph, for example, would really benefit from a safe new home. Her husband was electrocuted a few years ago and has had trouble finding steady work since then. She works in the kitchen at the Kobonal Mission School to help support her four young children, and the opportunity has been a godsend. She expressed her gratitude for the mission’s outreaches, and she prays that through these programs, her beloved children will be able to thrive in a safer living environment.
“My family is in need because things aren’t going too well for me. … [The Kobonal Haiti Mission] treats me well because they know I’m in need. They welcome me. They don’t look down on me,” Adeline said. “I’d like to thank the missionary community and all the other people who help us. I’d like to say a big thank you for that.”
There is an urgent need for safe housing in rural Haiti, and it’s a situation that demands collective action from the universal Church. By addressing the challenges of people like Adeline, we improve living conditions, contribute to families’ overall well-being and enhance the economic stability of struggling communities — all while showing the watching world the powerful impact the Body of Christ can achieve when we work together for the glory of God. Our work with the Kobonal Haiti Mission reveals this truth perfectly: Even in the darkest and most difficult circumstances, the Church is able to shine Christ’s light and make a powerful difference!
This year, we hope to build a total of 50 new homes in Haiti — 44 through our partnership with the Kobonal Haiti Mission and another six through our partnership with Bethsaide Mission in Jacmel. By making a gift to the Safe Homes in Haiti outreach, Catholics can empower these faithful servants of Christ to create safer, healthier and more resilient houses for families in need.
The path to a brighter future starts with ensuring that every family has a safe place to call home.
Donations from this campaign will be used to cover any expenditures for this project incurred through June 30, 2027, the close of our ministry’s fiscal year. In the event that more funds are raised than needed to fully fund the project, the excess funds, if any, will be used to meet the most urgent needs of the ministry.
