One of PHC’s key responsibilities as an employer is to provide decent, safe, and secure housing to all of our workers. The company currently owns 3,480 staff houses, all built between the 1930s and 1980s. While many PHC workers and their families have relied and continue to rely on this housing, there has historically been very limited maintenance on the part of the company to make sure the houses remained in safe and livable condition.
Following the establishment of our new management in 2021, however, PHC is committed to reversing this pattern and living up to its obligations to provide decent housing for staff. In June 2021, we completed a thorough inventory and needs assessment of the company’s staff housing to accurately assess the conditions of the houses, as well as identify how many houses are lacking to achieve our goal of providing one house per worker.
Using the results of this assessment, we launched our ambitious Housing Plan, which has two primary, parallel components:
- Renovate houses that were identified as recoverable. To meet modern national housing standards in DRC, these houses will need additional upgrades upon completion. We are prioritizing the renovation of all these homes before moving into the upgrade phase.
- Build new houses to meet the goal of providing one house per worker. The new houses, built with Hydraform® bricks, will follow national housing standards and the design of the homes is informed by worker preferences.
PHC began implementing these two housing plan components in August 2021, and after just four months of operation, the company has successfully completed 86 house renovations across PHC’s three sites, with an additional 89 homes currently under renovation. There are also seven new houses currently under construction. While these numbers are modest when compared to the scale of work yet to be done to ensure every worker is housed appropriately, we are proud to be starting this much-needed effort and look forward to continuing it steadfastly until we’ve reached our goal.
