Caribbean governments are strengthening regional cooperation to retrofit existing homes against increasingly severe hurricanes, flooding, and other climate-related threats. The initiative, announced recently in Trinidad and Tobago, aims to expand housing resilience investments across more than 15 countries in the region.

The CNG Network site says the programme is being led by the Inter-American Development Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank, in partnership with regional governments. It will combine home improvement grants, concessional loans, and technical assistance, along with government-supported retrofits for vulnerable homeowners, skills training, insurance support, and institutional strengthening of housing authorities.

Under a new Regional Public Goods initiative titled “Home is Where the Hurt Is,” participating countries will collect data to assess housing types and resilience gaps. This information will guide the development of a regional policy and operational manual, creating standard approaches to housing retrofits that can be replicated across the Caribbean.