In a section of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the community of Simon-Pelé and its 23,000 low-income squatter residents had de facto security of tenure and had built a vibrant commercial main street and strong social connections. Its lack of formal municipal and legal recognition meant that despite its residents’ efforts at improvements, Simon-Pelé did not get public services such as water, sanitation, sewers, latrines, solid waste disposal, street lighting and social amenities such as schools and playgrounds. Many streets remain unpaved. Diseases such as choera spread easily and often.
When hit by the 2010 earthquake, like many Haitian neighborhoods, its residents suffered devastation. At least 8,000, over a third of its residents, live in one of eight camps surrounding their former neighborhood.