4 Housing The poor standard of housing in Jerash camp is notable among both ex-Gaza and non-exGaza households. Meanwhile, ex-Gazans outside of Jerash tend to have similar standards of housing to the non-ex-Gazans they live alongside. As in all camps, most dwellings in Jerash camp are the traditional dar, stand-alone houses, generally comprising one storey (although sometimes more). The remaining housing is in the form of apartments, with very few households living in any ‘other’ type of dwelling 56. Vertical expansion of camp dwellings with an additional floor (ground floor and 1st floor) and, exceptionally, two additional floors, has been approved — and in some cases financially supported by the DPA and other organisations — providing a certified engineer testifies to the structural safety57. This policy has allowed the enlargement of one-room dwellings, and the building of additional dwellings inside the camps, modernizing and reshaping the infrastructural layout of the camps. There is less vertical expansion in Jerash camp, and thus far fewer households live in apartment buildings as compared to other camps, with 77% of Jerash ex-Gazans living in a basic dar compared to 56% of ex-Gazans outside Jerash and 58% of non-ex-Gazans, suggesting poorer quality housing structures and lack of finances to expand dwellings. In other camps, a higher proportion of refugees have been able to afford to turn their dar into a building structure comprising two or sometimes even three or four apartments. Whereas the second dwelling, or apartment, on the plot has often housed a son or sometimes daughter of the owner and their household, in Jerash camp it is more likely than elsewhere that the family of the married child remains with their parents in a three-generation household. Quality of housing In terms of quality of housing, Jerash has a high proportion of houses built at least partly with temporary materials: 35% of ex-Gaza dwellings in Jerash have a roof constructed entirely from corrugated iron plates, or ‘zinco’, while three quarters have a roof at least partially constructed out of temporary materials. This is in stark contrast to those living in other camps, ex-Gazans and non-ex-Gazans alike: only 13% of ex-Gaza households outside of Jerash live in a dwelling with a fully corrugated iron roof and 18% have a roof constructed fully or partially from temporary materials. The corresponding figures for other Palestinians are 11% and 19% 58. Yet another expression of the poorer-quality housing in Jerash camp is the much lower share of residents who would describe their home as ‘proper housing’ (Figure 9) 59. See Tiltnes and Zhang (2013) for a fuller discussion of the definition of a dar and an apartment applied in the surveys. 57 Interview with DPA, 18 February 2016. 58 Details on the development of the shelters of Palestinian refugees residing in camps from the first tents were erected and until today, can be found in Hanafi, Hilal and Takkenberg eds. (2014). 59 Besides Jerash camp, there is only one other camp that stands out with a particularly poor score on this indicator, namely Baqa’a camp, where 73% characterize their house as ‘proper’. While low, this is still 11 percentage points higher than amongst ex-Gazans and other inhabitants in Jerash camp. 56 ‘Just getting by’ Ex-Gazans in Jerash and other refugee camps in Jordan 43