Most vulnerable households exposed to impacts of harsh weather and protection concerns are supported to meet their basic shelter needs and enhance their coping capacity The project responds to the Shelter/NFIs Cluster’s Objective n. 2: “Vulnerable households exposed to harsh weather and protection concerns are supported to meet basic needs and enhance their coping capacity”. This is linked to HRP SO 2 and 3, and to the 2nd objective of this allocation strategy: “Multi sectorial intervention to mitigate the impact of restrictions and blockade”. 
The project’s overall objective is to ensure that 500 of the most vulnerable households (HHs) from NRC current and previous caseloads are supported to meet their basic needs and enhance their coping capacity. These HHs live in substandard housing conditions in Gaza and North Gaza Governorates without essential protection against harsh climate and are exposed to humanitarian and protection concerns. 
The majority of the targeted HHs are selected from those ones inserted in the 2018/2019 NRC’s caseload of beneficiaries supposed to be the recipient of repair/upgrade projects but who could not be assisted due to lack of funds. This caseload was initially extracted from the raw data provided by the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), the Ministry of Public Works and Housing (MoPWH) and with the data from the NRC-ICLA department regarding the refugees from the Region (Syria, Libya and Yemen). The remaining ones will be selected from the current NRC’s cash-for-rent project caseload (raw data were received from the above-mentioned sources plus the Ministry of Education (MoE)), targeting HHs who were not assisted because, once evicted from rented housing units they found shelter with host families. This project will prioritize hosted and host families living in substandard and overcrowded conditions, female-headed HHs with low incomes, and HHs with persons with special needs, in order to alleviate financial burden, avoid overcrowded situations without age/gender-based separation in bedrooms and protect them from harsh weather.
The beneficiaries’ selection process will prioritize the HHs who have the highest socio-economic and housing status vulnerabilities and limited coping capacities. 
The shelter assistance will use high quality materials to ensure a sustainable change in the living conditions of chronically vulnerable households and strengthen shelter protection. 
The type of intervention will be chosen based on a technical field assessment among the following options: 
1) basic shelter rehabilitation and repair of 98 sub-standard housing units up to the minimum standards to enhance the living space conditions and to improve privacy. This rehabilitation might include also bathroom/kitchen upgrades depending on the dire conditions assessed. NRC’s support will be provided through conditional cash transfer with technical training, or-in exceptional cases- through a contractor approach.
2) provision of in-kind sealing-off materials and winterization NFIs for 402 households at risk of exposure to harsh weather conditions. This intervention will be tailored to the assessed needs, and the items included in the kit will be changed based on the technical assessment, the family size, and the presence of people with special needs.