Efforts to rebuild Haiti after the 2010 earthquake have produced pockets of construction and stable housing amid vast stretches of devastation, despite billions of dollars in construction aid, according to The New York Times.

Hundreds of thousands of people still live in deplorable conditions in tent camps and tens of thousands in condemned buildings.

Among the brighter spots are two groups run by missionaries that are now working together to rebuild with very low overhead. The 410 Bridge, based in Georgia, raised money to build homes but had no property, and Mission of Hope, based in Florida, had property but not enough money for construction.

“We’re not one of the big groups that sit in Washington, D.C., and get the financing,” said Brad Johnson, Mission of Hope’s president. “But we’re managing to get it done for $6,000 a house. I don’t understand, for all the money that came into Haiti, why there aren’t houses everywhere.”

A Dutch charity called Cordaid is among other groups working with Haitians to build their own homes or retrofit existing shelters. The future homeowners are given the chance to choose the design of the house, buy the materials, and hire and oversee people trained by the charities to do the work.