The Economic Inefficiencies of Habitat for Humanity

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I recently came across some information that really got me thinking. I was a participant in my high school's habitat for humanity club and now am college student. A number of my friends have participated throughout the years in their schools' respective Habitat clubs and have then taken week long spring break trips with 20-30 of their classmates to build a house in Guatemala, Honduras, Florida, etc. Commonly they will fly out each student ~$400/student round trip. Instead of having a group of inexperienced college kids attempting to build a house (many of which have been falling apart only a few years after their completion), why do these clubs not use this money to hire MANY more local workers in one of these locations. They would create needed jobs, hire many more people- the estimated cost of sending a student on one of these trips for a week is ~$600-700 total. Many of the local residents would be willing to do this week's work for $200 or less allowing the hiring of three times as many individuals. The more skilled labor that I mentioned beforehand would allow for a more well built and trustworthy house, and money would be contributed directly to the community rather than being wasted on plane tickets.

Unfortunately, for many school groups this in an unrealistic request. The trips have turned into a sort of "tropical getaway," with the motivation for the students being more so a week on a sunny beach with their than going to help build a house. Friends of mine have returned with stories of scuba diving, jet skiing, and para-sailing, activities associated with a luxury trip to the Bahamas rather than a charitable one. The heads of these clubs argue that visiting the regions will allow the students to see for themselves the terrible conditions and make them appreciate their lives. But aren't we in a time where the acridness of the conditions can be gauged through a thirty minute news segment, a fifteen second Google search, or a trip to the local food shelter? While I am stressing Habitat for Humanity, these all are clubs that stress aiding as many people as possible, yet they forgo helping as many as sixty people to help only three and themselves. Let's stop trying to convince ourselves that we are humanitarians unless we are really willing to go at the issues head on.

See this article and others like it at econanonymous.blogspot.com