World Habitat Day a Reminder of the Need for Shelter

It's World Habitat Day, and in the Huffington Post Jimmy Carter urges you to take the time to "recognize the basic need for shelter" around the globe. In Haiti, for example, hundreds of thousands still live in tents and other makeshift shelters—almost three years after its 7.0 earthquake. The rest of the world should be appalled by this. "Imagine your daily life but with the added burdens of heightened exposure to the risk of disease, inadequate protection from the world around you, and the threat of repeat displacement," Carter writes.

There's no easy solution, but if the global community helps families and neighbors in devastated areas to work together, progress can be made. Carter and his wife took a trip to one quake-ravaged community last year with Habitat for Humanity, helping to build 100 homes. They'll do it again in November. "Our goal in building these many homes is the establishment of one community," Carter writes. And Habitat for Humanity not only builds homes, it provides jobs for Haitians and allows them to help create that community. It's this type of grassroots action that provides hope for the future, and that Carter hopes you'll take in your own community. Click for his full column. (More shelter stories.)