The total population living in camps in Haiti remains above the
half million mark nearly two years after the January 2010
earthquake, reflecting the enormous challenge in getting the
homeless back to their neighbourhoods in safe housing.

"Getting displaced people back to their original communities is
the top priority," said Luca Dall'Oglio IOM Haiti chief of mission.
"Areas of the capital devastated by the quake are finally getting
the attention they deserve and this will enable IOM to increase the
rate at which we facilitate the return of families to their
communities, something we have been doing on a wide scale since the
quake."

IOM's strategy involves accompanying returnees back to their
communities or finding them alternative transition shelter. This
has proven effective across the board and it is underpinned by a
focus on averting evictions, while providing the homeless families
with assistance and resources when required in order to find
sustainable housing.

"BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(51,102,204) 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(51,102,204) 1px solid; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; BACKGROUND: rgb(153,204,255) 0% 50%; FLOAT: right; CLEAR: right; BORDER-TOP: rgb(51,102,204) 1px solid; BORDER-RIGHT: rgb(51,102,204) 1px solid">
"PADDING-BOTTOM: 3px; PADDING-LEFT: 3px; PADDING-RIGHT: 3px; BACKGROUND: rgb(51,102,204) 0% 50%; PADDING-TOP: 3px">Related
Link
alt="" border="0" height="12" hspace="0" src=
"/jahia/webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/shared/mainsite/graphics/interface/icons_buttons/blue_link_box.gif"> "http://www.cccmhaiti.info/z_dtm_september_2011.php" target=
"_blank" title="">Displacement Tracking Matrix Report

According to IOM's latest statistical survey – the
Displacement Tracking Matrix – the total displaced population
in September 2011 has not changed substantially compared to the
previous period.

The study found a decrease of 9 per cent: 149,317 internally
displaced persons (IDP) households according to estimates recorded
in July 2011, compared to 135,961 reported in September 2011.

Some 36 per cent of the original camp population remains in IDP
sites since the height of the displacement crisis last year. An
estimated 1.5 million individuals were living in IDP sites in July
2010.

The number of individuals in camps fell from 594,811 in July
2011 to some 550,560 in September, confirming a slower declining
trend, 20 months after the earthquake. This population has not
changed dramatically in the last two months, however.

Efforts to rebuild communities by removing rubble, installing
transitional shelters and making repairs to earthquake damaged
houses are being stepped up.

However, the pace of exit from camps has slowed down
considerably, reflecting the complexity of the urban displacement
crisis, homelessness and poverty.  The circumstances of these
homeless people remain extremely difficult. They live for the most
part in tent cities in shelters made from plastic sheeting,
buffeted by the winds soaked by the downpours of Haiti's hurricane
season.

The majority of the IDP population (60 per cent) remains
clustered in 61 "large" sites hosting over 500 households. These
represent a mere 8 per cent of all sites confirming the trend
already observed in previous reports of increased polarization in
large camps.

Full report is available online at: "paragraph-link-no-underline" href=
"http://www.cccmhaiti.info/z_dtm_september_2011.php" target=
"_blank" title=
"">http://www.cccmhaiti.info/z_dtm_september_2011.php

For more information please contact:

Leonard Doyle

IOM Haiti

Tel: +50937025066

E-mail: "mailto:Ldoyle@IOM.int">Ldoyle@IOM.int