I am working with a mutual aid org which has some resources at its disposal (money & labor) to help the folks who live there.
Of course, the people living there know best what they need, and with their current setups they mostly need wood for their stoves, or fuel for their generators, which are running electric heaters. But not all of them have stoves or generators.
I think the next most obvious option is warm clothing and blankets, which it seems like they have in good supply thankfully.
My org has done some building projects in the past and is considering doing more, possibly with a rocket stove type design, though I'm wondering if that's worth the effort, and our money/time would be better spent providing the residents with more food/clothing/fuel.
running a generator and electric heating is dramatically inefficient. only advantage is no carbon monoxide in the tent/structure, but it doesnt take a ton of airflow to keep that from being a problem with propane, and any reasonable wood stove also doesnt have that issue. plus monoxide detectors are like $3 on aliexpress if it becomes an issue. propane can be a bit scary (tent fires and tank explosions) in an encampment scenario but it beats freezing to death certainly
is it a tent situation primarily or are there other structures that can more readily be insulated? even just a shitload of blankets makes decent insulation if done well
also all depends how harsh the winters are there.
I've seen a zine online of how to make a yurt with a woodstove for exactly this use case. but that doesnt eliminate the need to provide insulation (a tarp layer or two and then blankets mostly) and firewood. the advantage there is it can house a few people per so they can share heat, and its a much sturdier structure than a tent and is designed around the wood stove so it doesnt catch on fire.
edit: here's the zine: https://files.catbox.moe/1t9148.pdf
if there are more permanent structures in place those RVing diesel heaters might also make sense but might not be cheap enough/trivial to set up.
A mix of both, but probably mostly tents. I think the generator provides electricity to multiple tents so that's the main advantage, plus it being the only option really for folks who don't have wood stoves at the moment.
yeah... tents are kinda troublesome, they're not very resistant to heat, embers, etc so I have a hard time recommending wood stoves if the structure theyre being used in is camping tents.
but I do suspect that providing wood would be much more cost effective in the long run than gasoline.
building wood stoves to the extent that people have structures that can safely accomodate them might be worthwhile but whiz bang stuff like rocket stoves are not it for an encampment in my opinion, too much complexity for something that might just get tossed by pigs next week, all to save a little bit of wood which can often be gotten for free
the yurt zine is cool, but a big project depending on the size of y9ur org. I could probably find the group that made it, they are doing similar work it sounds like to you. And their stove design is dirt cheap (half a barrel and 5 pieces of stovepipe)
If they're typical silnylon camping tents wood stoves are a huge risk.
You can safely use wood stoves for canvas tents as long as you get a good stovejack, they make great silicone ones now. The problem is that canvas camping tents are typically cost prohibitive for most homeless people.
yeah I guess I should have been more explicit about that. its no good, very unsafe. But other types of structures can accomodate wood stoves with some effort