PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago: Caribbean governments have initiated cooperation to retrofit existing homes against increasingly severe hurricanes, flooding and other climate hazards. The initiative, announced recently in Trinidad and Tobago, aims to scale up housing resilience investments across more than 15 Caribbean nations. 

The strategy addresses critical vulnerabilities. As hurricanes, flooding, sea-level rise, and coastal erosion intensify across the region, housing, the most visible casualty of disasters, remains largely unprotected. By developing a shared regional approach, Caribbean countries can pool resources, reduce costs, and protect millions of households from mounting climate risks.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), in partnership with regional governments, will develop a joint housing resilience investment programme. The programme will combine home improvement grants and concessional loans with technical assistance, government-supported retrofits for homeowners unable to do the work themselves, skills training for workers and homeowners, support for home insurance, and institutional strengthening of housing authorities.

Under a recently launched Regional Public Goods Technical Cooperation (TC) titled "Home is Where the Hurt Is", IDB will conduct primary data collection and systematic analyses of housing typologies and resilience deficits across several participating nations. Governments will use this data to develop a Regional Policy and Operational Manual for housing retrofits, establishing standardised approaches that can be replicated across the Caribbean.

According to Mr. Anton Edmunds, General Manager of the Caribbean Country Department at the IDB, "For Caribbean families, a home is not just shelter; it is a symbol of community; of belonging and of economic security."

“We can no longer afford to address housing vulnerability in isolation.  Pooling our resources and expertise to ensure that homes across the Caribbean are built to withstand mounting environmental pressures and emerge stronger from future shocks is critical. This cooperation is evidence of a shared commitment, of regional solidarity," Edmunds said.

The workshop brought together Ministers of Housing, Permanent Secretaries, and technical experts from over 15 Caribbean countries to align the roadmap towards a regional strategy. 

Mr. L. O’Reilly Lewis, Director of Projects at CDB, underscored the importance of coordinated action emerging from the workshop discussions saying, “There is an urgent need for a structured, regionally coordinated investment programme that not only addresses the technical challenges of retrofitting existing housing stock but also strengthens policy frameworks, financing mechanisms, and institutional capacity across our member countries. By sharing lessons from post-disaster reconstruction, advancing practical retrofit solutions, and aligning on financing pathways, we are laying the groundwork for scalable, sustainable resilience interventions that can protect Caribbean households for generations to come.”

The IDB and CDB will now work with participating governments to develop a prospective joint investment operation that will systematically reduce recurring vulnerability in Caribbean homes, helping to make them the secure haven they were always intended to be.

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