Chart your path to resilient housing
With the Resilient Housing Ecosystem Assessment Tool (RHEAT™), you can take the first step in determining housing resilience in your country. Designed for people who aren’t disaster resilience specialists, this tool provides an at-a-glance look at where you are on the path to resilient housing, and how Build Change can help you on your journey.
About RHEAT™
RHEAT(™) has been developed by Build Change to help countries, states, territories, and cities to identify key gaps and challenges as they work toward achieving resilient housing at scale.
RHEAT™ can be used by governments and implementers as they prepare to launch a housing program, or during the implementation of an existing program. The tool supports users to obtain a snapshot of the current housing environment, by assessing conditions at a given point in time. It can be a useful monitoring tool to guide understanding on priorities and resource allocation, and in doing so can help to maximize the chance of a program’s success.
RHEAT™ specifically tracks progress against the three areas of People/Policy, Money, and Technology. Users are guided by a series of benchmark indicators and a score is assigned to each based on the current level of progress in that area. The tool should be revisited at regular intervals to review and reassess progress against each indicator. Over time, progress is observed as the colors on the assessment tool change from red—indicating that certain criteria are inexistent or not working—to blue—indicating that resilient housing goals have been achieved.
How can I use RHEAT™?
RHEAT™ is designed for:
- governments
- grassroots community organizations
- private-sector organizations
- multilaterals
It can be used by governments and implementers as they prepare to launch a housing program, or during the implementation of an existing program. The tool supports users to obtain a snapshot of the current housing environment, by assessing conditions at a given point in time. RHEAT™ can be a useful way to guide understanding of priorities and resource allocation, and in doing so can help to maximize the chance of a program’s success.
How does it work?
RHEAT™ specifically tracks progress against the three areas of People/Policy, Money, and Technology. Users are guided by a series of benchmark indicators and a score is assigned to each based on the current level of progress in that area. The tool should be revisited at regular intervals to review and reassess progress against each indicator. Over time, progress is observed as the colors on the assessment tool change from red – indicating that certain criteria are inexistent or not working – to blue – indicating that resilient housing goals have been achieved.
Spotlight on RHEAT™ and our Theory of Change
Build Change has identified People/Policy, Money, and Technology as the three main barriers to the adoption of resilient housing at scale. Put simply, homeowners will not live in disaster-resistant houses unless they can afford to, and have access to needed technology, materials, and skilled construction workers. They also need government agencies to be able to provide incentives and enforce building standards. The high level of interdependence between the three main areas makes it necessary to take a holistic approach that considers all three, to successfully design policies, programs, or products to overcome gaps and challenges in any one area. For more information on Build Change’s Theory of Change and implementing successful resilient housing programs, refer toThe Build Change Guide to Resilient Housing: An Essential Handbook for Government and Practitioners.