Category: . Website: . P No: . P No: . P No: . Location: Ouest , Port-au-Prince , Petion-Ville View: 5128

  

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Mission

The Mission of LEVE Housing is to provide safer, affordable, homes for the Haitian people.  

We study business models from all over the world in order to implement the best solutions in a way that integrates with the construction culture of Haiti.  We work from the bottom-up to build safe and affordable homes, with access to infrastructure and financing.

Vision

The Vision of LEVE Housing is to develop a successful construction economy in Haiti.
 
Currently, Haiti lacks a successful construction economy- and the devastating January 12, 2010 earthquake showed that to the world.  The industry creates unaffordable and unsafe housing, and sadly, not much has changed in the re-building efforts.  Haiti sets itself up for one disaster after the next, especially since the earthquake fault is yet to release the fullness of its tension, and hurricanes directly hit the island nearly every year.


The free-market is the only place we will see long-term success in the construction economy of Haiti.  In order to empower the free market, LEVE Housing aims to develop profitable, replicable and scale-able businesses.  In developing successful businesses in Haiti, we hope to share these models with others in the free-market; and work towards the overall development of a successful construction economy in Haiti.

Founding Principles

•The free-market is the only place we will see long term success in the economy of Haiti.  

•Successful businesses will help Haiti build itself out of poverty.

•Welfare and give-away charity will undermine business, dis-incentivize workers, and create dependency.  

•A successful construction economy needs:
        -Safety- The economy constructs safe buildings.
        -Efficiency- The economy builds at an affordable price
          point for the industry.
        -Infrastructure- Available access to infrastructure (power,
          water, sanitation)
        -Financing- The economy provides viable access to
          financing.  

•A replicable and scalable business model that allows individuals to create value and prosperity will be key to developing long-term success.

•Housing is not an inalienable right.  It must be worked for and earned.  

•It is not about asking what is wrong- it is about asking, what can be done right.

Issues in Haiti's Building Economy

Summary:

Haiti, like many developing nations, lacks a robust building economy.  Understanding the problems is not straightforward, as the web of roadblocks inhibiting a successful building economy are complex and intertwined with the entire nation.  Assessing these issues requires a look across multiple sectors:
 
History
Haiti's history has been wrought with corruption, violence, and poor economic leadership.  This turbulent journey has informed much of the current situation.  
 
National Economy
The nation lacks a sound economy.  Haiti imports most of its goods, but has a very low purchasing power per capita relative to other nations, a situation that prevents the majority of its citizens from being able to afford adequate housing.  Haiti exports few goods, and tourism remains low.  The largest source of revenue for Haiti is remittances (money sent to Haiti from family abroad).  
 
Infrastructure
Haiti's poor infrastructure reduces production and reliability within the industry.  Building codes and land rights are rarely enforced, port transport is slow and expensive, and road quality is very poor.  The building economy is not providing secure jobs for Haitians, and lacks a sufficiently educated workforce.  
 
Buildings
Ultimately, as the January 12, 2010 earthquake showed the world, much of the Haitian building economy has been creating unsuccessful buildings; buildings that are unsafe and under-serving of the people.   
 
The design and construction of buildings are far worse than that of many other developing countries due to years of poor methods and norms that have pervaded the industry.  And even just months after the earthquake people are rebuilding under the same flawed system.  
 
In a turbulent world, where natural disasters provide a real and all-too-frequent threat to lives and livelihoods, Haiti must reform its building practices to ensure safety and get the building economy on its feet. With construction costs rising and the economy devastated, the need for cost-effective and sound construction methods is more apparent than ever.

Solutions

In proposing solutions for the future of Haiti, we see two ways of thinking: from the top-down and from the bottom-up.
 
The top-down approach requires an assessment of the most pressing macro issues- for example, a priority list might include; policy reform in order to ease the cost of doing business, eradication of corruption, an increase in investment and exports, and infrastructure improvement.  These are nation-building issues.
 
The bottom up approach would attempt to provide building solutions, technologies, and methods that would work within the current political and economic state of Haiti.  
 
Ultimately, a full solution must come from both ends.  
 
 
Our Approach
LEVE Housing is working on the bottom-up approach. We aim to try to provide safe, affordable, housing options and methods that work within the current system, while at the same time working towards the systems improvement.
 
Strengthening Haiti's building economy does not have a simple answer, and will require improvements across multiple sectors from politics to the economy and we look forward to playing our part.
 
 
Our Strategy
In order to implement construction methods that work within the current climate of Haiti we see four main problems that we want to tackle: safety, efficiency, infrastructure, and financing.
 
Safety:
·  Issue: Currently, a building code system is not appropriately developed for Haiti.  There are initiatives underway to complete this task, however even when the codes are complete, enforcement and education is not likely to be adequate.
 
·  Solution: We want to provide the Haitian building economy with methods of building that allow them to build safely, even without enforcement of building codes and proper construction education.

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The LEVE Housing Difference

LEVE Housing is a social business, built on sound business principles.  We are most immediately a construction and development company, but intricately so much more.  We are working towards the development of a long-term successful construction economy in Haiti.  To provide safer affordable homes for the Haitian people.   
 
Expertise and Execution:
The foundation of LEVE is built on construction expertise and execution.  Our international network has built successfully all over the world with the highest construction quality.  Construction quality and safety is our number one priority and our network in Haiti can execute timely and efficiently.  We have been building successfully for years.

Email contact@levehousing.com
Address Petion-Ville, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Phone 509 3412-2222,1 (239) 289-0172,
Fax