Dirt floors, the reality that the Dominican Republic wants to leave in the past

For a long time, dwellings with dirt floors have been a reflection of the levels of vulnerability under which many families living in extreme poverty have been living.

Dust and unhealthy conditions threaten the health of the residents of these buildings, which are often built with inadequate materials that offer very low resistance to natural phenomena and extreme weather.

This is one of the reasons the Dominican Government included the elimination of dirt floors among the 50 key actions outlined at its first Council of Ministers, held on January 11, along with other measures, such as eliminating the use of wood and charcoal stoves. But, how many houses does the country have under this condition?

Of the 3,694,060 occupied dwellings in the Dominican Republic nationwide, 1.9% of them (69,620) had dirt floors -25,366 in urban areas and 44,254 in rural areas- according to the National Population and Housing Census 2022, which contains the most recent official data in this regard.

Despite rapid urbanization in Santo Domingo, the current census recorded 11,409 dwellings, making it the province with the highest number of this type of dwelling, followed by San Juan (6,010) and Azua (4,277).

In contrast, the demarcations with fewer and fewer homes with these apartments are Hermanas Mirabal (304), Santiago Rodríguez (402), and Samaná (649).

The figures show that, over two decades, more than half of houses nationwide have eliminated dirt floors, compared with the 150,123 occupied private homes registered in the 2002 census.

Initiatives

There are initiatives in both the public and private sectors that aim to eradicate dirt floors in the country.

Since 2020, the Government has been implementing, through the Ministry of Housing and Buildings, the program “Change of dirtfloor for cement floor” to improve the lives of families living in extreme poverty. The program has achieved the conversion of 13,905 homes nationwide from 2021 to 2024.

The Habitat for Humanity foundation announced that it contributed to the construction of 530 homes, replacing their dirt floors with polished cement floors in the second half of last year, and that it aims to eradicate up to 1,888 dirt floors this year.