Building safe, complete homes for the most vulnerable families in Puthukkudiyiruppu, so they can stop surviving and start building.

Jeyalakshmi’s Story

Jeyalakshmi lives in Puthukkudiyiruppu with her children, on the edge of jungle land where snakes find their way into the house. When the rains come, water comes straight through the roof. She cannot cook a meal for her children. Her children cannot sit down to study. She takes what work she can find, but it has never been enough to put a safe roof over their heads.

With this build, Jeyalakshmi’s family will finally have a home that holds against the weather. A roof that does not let the rain through. Walls that keep the jungle out. A kitchen she can use through every season, and a corner where her children can open their books in the evening. For the first time in years, she will not be planning around the next storm.

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The Wider Picture

Puthukkudiyiruppu, in the Mullaitivu District of Northern Sri Lanka, was among the areas most devastated during the final phases of the civil war. After the conflict ended, multiple housing schemes were launched to support returning and resettled families.

Among them was the Sajith Housing Scheme, a government programme that promised substantial relief for war-affected households. Some support arrived. But many of the homes built were left incomplete, constructed without toilets, without secure water access, or without the land documentation that would give a family genuine security.

The most vulnerable households fell through every round of support: female-headed families, elderly and disabled residents, those without legal land title, and those living in structures that were never properly finished.

More than a decade on, those gaps remain. Twenty families in Puthukkudiyiruppu are still living in precarious conditions. Some are in incomplete structures that have stood unfinished for years. Others are in homes that are unsafe or undignified. Without secure shelter, a family cannot plan, cannot save, and cannot begin to build anything stable. This project reaches the families no previous programme fully reached.

What We Are Doing

Working through our local women’s empowerment collectives and in close coordination with the Grama Niladhari, community groups, and divisional officials, we have identified 20 of the most vulnerable families in Puthukkudiyiruppu who remain without adequate shelter. We will build or complete their homes to a proper standard, addressing not just the structure but the full picture: toilets, water access, and where needed, legal land documentation. The work is community-led throughout, with local labour actively mobilised and building plans shaped by the families themselves.

• Building homes that are complete, not just standing.

  Each of the 20 families receives a home built or completed to quality standards, overseen by government engineers and our team. Safe, durable, and designed to provide genuine protection for years to come.

• Toilets, water, and the basics that make a house liveable.

  Where families lack access to clean water or basic sanitation, those needs are addressed alongside the build. A home without water is still a crisis. A toilet without drainage is still a health risk.

• Securing the land beneath their feet.

  Many families live on land without formal title, which means their security is one decision away from disappearing. We work with government authorities to secure legal documentation for every family who needs it before we consider a build complete.

How This Work Lasts

A home is not just a build. It is the foundation on which everything else becomes possible.

• Finding the families every scheme missed.

  We work with the local government, women’s collectives, and divisional officials to identify the households living in the most precarious conditions. We look at shelter quality, land tenure, family composition, and what previous programmes did and did not reach. The families in this project were identified through that process.

• Each home designed around how that family actually lives.

  Our women’s empowerment collectives guide the construction process, ensuring building plans reflect the real layout and needs of each household. Room sizes, kitchen placement, toilet access, these are shaped by the people who will live there, not by a standard form.

• Land rights formalised, not just assumed.

  For families without formal land documentation, we work alongside government authorities to secure the legal title they need. A house without tenure is not security. We will not consider a build complete until a family can live in their home without fear of eviction.

• A record of who was missed and why.

  Through coordination with divisional secretariats and local government bodies, we share what we are learning about which households consistently fall outside post-war reconstruction support. The goal is not just to help these 20 families. It is to make the next scheme reach them.

When our direct involvement ends, 20 families in Puthukkudiyiruppu will have a home that is safe, complete, legally theirs, and built to last. That is the foundation from which everything else, a steady income, an education, a plan for the future, becomes possible.

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A Foundation for Everything Else

This project is part of our broader Foundational Support work across the North and East, where we reach the families that reconstruction programmes have consistently left behind. Safe housing is where lasting change begins.