Indonesia

Context at a glance

Habitat homeowner couple Asiah and Burhanuddin at their almost completed Habitat house. They lost everything in the 2004 tsunami and barely survived it

Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago with 13,000 islands stretching over hundreds of kilometres along and around the equator. In spite of its size, housing is a constant challenge as Indonesia is home to more than 230 million people, making it the fourth most populous nation in the world. Population densities, especially on the main island of Java, are as high as 12,635 per sq. km. Land shortages, plus high land prices and construction costs and hard-to-access credit for housing, particularly in urban areas, are major reasons for the amount of substandard housing. Nearly one quarter of the population lives below the poverty level. Often land accounts for up to half the total cost of a house.

The December 2004 earthquake in Banda Aceh triggered a tsunami that left many thousands of people homeless.

Habitat for Humanity programme

HFH Indonesia built its first houses in 1997 in Yogyakarta, a city in the eastern part of Java. It works in both rural and urban areas across the country.

HFH Indonesia uses "Building in Stages" and "Save and Build" schemes. The former enables homeowners to start by building a basic "core" house based on their financial means. The core first-stage home normally measures 12 sq. m. There is then the option to extend at a later date. "Save and Build" enables homeowners to own the house more quickly as they benefit from saving together as a group of homepartners in their community. The average monthly repayment for both types is approximately £11.

Houses use cement slab foundations and are made from concrete blocks and plywood with wood frames and clay tiles for roofs. It takes between 14 and 30 days to build a house. There are six affiliates in Indonesia: Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Manado and Batam. New affiliates are being formed in Medan, Makassar, Bali and Kupang. HFH Indonesia's tsunami disaster response is centred on Banda Aceh.

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