DEFINING ADEQUATE

IDPs, Somaliland

Displaced persons is an issue that occurs globally, either due to manmade or natural disasters or the lure of opportunity in the city. The result is immediate need for temporary housing that becomes married with the need for a long-term solution--all occurring with varying degrees of success. To some degree, it seems like context does not necessarily matter. It is happens everywhere. The standards for what is considered "adequate housing" has a global definition. It is set by both UN-HABITAT and the UNHCR. 

“Adequate housing” is defined as that which affords its occupants:
•  legal security of tenure, especially in the form of protection against forced evictions;
• available services and infrastructure (access to water; energy for cooking, heating, and lighting; sanitation and washing facilities; food storage; and waste disposal, and so on);
• affordable housing costs such that the attainment of other basic needs is not threatened;
• habitability in the sense of adequate space, physical safety, and protection from cold, damp, heat, rain, wind, structural hazards, and disease vectors;
• sufficient accessibility that disadvantaged or vulnerable groups are not left without shelter appropriate to their particular needs;
• a physical location allowing affordable access to employment options, health care services, schools, child-care centers, and other social facilities and avoiding risks from pollution sources;
• appropriate construction and materials for the expression of cultural identity;283
compliance with safety standards aimed at minimizing damage from future disasters.284
Brookings Institute pg. 130

However, words like "adequate" and "sufficient" and "affordable" and "appropriate" provide no metric for judging the quality of the housing. Standards for what defines these subjective terms varies by countries. Each country and region has their own standard of living. Therefore, while regulations are set globally, they enforced, especially with regards to metrics, at a more local/regional scale. The global standards become the minimum that must be improved upon. 

"In practice, this means that competent authorities in displacement settings should strive to meet relevant minimum standards (in the form of national safety or habitability rules and international guidelines), both by continually seek to provide better housing alternatives and by following timelines for improving, upgrading, or replacing the least adequate forms of shelter."

When regulations are enforced at the local level, it often means countries are relying on their laws set up for ordinary operation. However, such domestic frameworks rarely anticipate internal displacement and are typically not sufficient on their own for the development of a response to the shelter needs of IDPs.  

Typical models of settlement include "self-settle," "host-families," and "dispersed." The Brookings Institute suggest that a separate government agency be created to provide targeted oversight and guidance. 
Minimum essential elements of state regulation: At a minimum, competent authorities should do the following:

1. Recognize the right to basic shelter and adequate housing for IDPs.
2. Designate a governmental agency responsible for addressing shelter and housing needs of displaced
persons.
3. Seek and accept support from the international community if needs cannot be sufficiently satisfied
at the domestic level.
4. Establish procedures to identify and prioritize beneficiaries of basic shelter and adequate housing
on the basis of need and particular vulnerability.
5. Remove legal obstacles as contained, for example, in building and similar codes, for the construction
of transitional shelters or the rebuilding of houses in return or relocation areas.
6. Create specific guarantees to protect IDPs against forced evictions when general guarantees are
insufficient.
Brookings Institute, pg. 132

Collective centers (i.e. areas of concentrated displacement) tend to be the most problematic. Several options have been used locally to improve these conditions. 
Collective centers of public purpose will regain their primary function of social institutions (hospitals, schools, etc.); 
Collective centers which have commercial value will be vacated for private investment. Monetary compensations, which will be given to IDPs in exchange for vacating the places they are currently occupying for residence, shall be relevant and adequate to market prices; 
The collective centers that are suitable for living and have a specific importance, will be transferred to IDPs, if they so desire, for self-privatization (price for the privatization should be determined by considering the social condition of each IDP).
Transfer of residences into private ownership will be especially encouraged, though this option shall not take place automatically. Participation and contribution of IDPs in this process is a precondition for their purchasing of flats.”
Brookings Institute, pg. 142.