In order to bring money to Haiti, sometimes you have to invest outside of Haiti. P 2.

If La Gonave became a Special Administrative Region, one major way to bring in need revenue is to build outside of Haiti.  Building apartment buildings could bring in monthly revenue that could then be used to develop the region.  For example, the average house purchase in Seattle, is $500,000 US.  That is usually a 3 bdrm 1 bath house that is under 1,200 sq ft.  The average rent in Seattle for a 1 bdrm, 1 bath apartment of 6-700 sq ft is about $1,700 US per month!

So by simply building a small container apartment building in say, Tacoma, which is just outside of Seattle, you can still have high rent, but on cheaper land.  Land in Tacoma is a little cheaper than Seattle, and you can find land that is literally a few blocks from Downtown Tacoma.  Tacoma even is expanding their light rail line, as well as their rail terminal, port, and University of Washington Tacoma campus.  All of which are downtown.  Tacoma is booming because Seattle is booming.  Seattle is the fastest growing big city in America.  Yes, faster than New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, etc.  So building in Tacoma can be an attractive alternative.  Given that it has a massive port, just like Seattle, getting shipping containers wouldn't be a problem. Shipping containers are cheaper, usually, when they care closer to a port.

The idea would be to build a 3 story building, which would use a stair well to go up to the top floors.  This will lower the cost of building.  Secondly, getting a construction firm that will hire a small number of folks from La Gonave to help in building the project.  Not only does it help train our people on how to build these structures, but also they will be getting much needed income.

Once the building is complete, more than likely all of the units would be rented out.  Here in Seattle, most apartments are gone as soon as they come on the market.  Sometimes houses will have people paying full price and paying in cash.  So given that it is extremely competitive, it makes having a business in property management a perfect source of money for La Gonave.  Also constructing such a structure wouldn't be super expensive, as we would have our people build the inside of the units.  Couple this with nice and modern, yet economically feasible fixtures, and you have great units that will rent for at least $1,300 for a 1 bdrm, 1 bath unit, if it is a 2 bdrm, expect a few hundred dollars more.

So by investing outside of Haiti, you can target an expensive market and build an affordable structure that can really help the community.  Add some small retail spaces, and attract Starbucks, which has it's headquarters in Seattle, and has used many shipping containers for the shops, and you make even more money.

This is why it is so important that La Gonave become a SAR.  It can set it's own taxes, which will go back into La Gonave, and not Haiti.  It can then build it's economy by investing in American cities on small scale projects and get monthly revenue.

Even building in Charleston, SC, Daytona Beach, FL, and Portland, OR are also places where building these structures would be cheaper due to land costs, and all of these places have active ports, and the infrastructure to build these types of facilities.

My idea is that the money that is received every month would be put back into building projects for 5 years before putting that money back into La Gonave.  So for example, when enough money has been raised from rents, we would build another facility, and keep reinvesting for 5 years.  Then we would be able to take the revenue we get after 5 years and then start building up La Gonave.  If La Gonave became a SAR, and got a $2 million loan that would be paid back in 10 years, it is more than feasible to make this project work.

Go Gonave!