But the plan faces major hurdles, with residents at one of the largest camps -- in the Champ de Mars park across from the ravaged National Palace -- warning they will not be able to go back to their rubble-strewn areas anytime soon.

The new strategy is in part due to the urgent situation the country faces with some 1.2 million homeless and the heavy rain season approaching in the coming weeks, threatening to turn overcrowded camps into health nightmares.

UN officials say many of the camps must start emptying because of a lack of latrines and because they are in areas vulnerable to flooding. A lack of available land means there are limited options to create new settlements.

Michel Bonnardeaux, spokesman for the UN mission in Haiti, said a high-level panel overseeing relief efforts and headed by Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive approved the plan Friday afternoon.

UN spokeswoman Kristen Knutson said part of the goal was also to avoid forcing people to live far away from their former homes destroyed in the January 12 quake.

"It's a massive and exceedingly complex endeavor," she said of the new plan, which will also involve removing rubble where possible and inspecting houses that remain standing to allow people to return, among other issues.

"People want to go home. We want to help them to get there."

She acknowledged the plan will not be completed before the heavy rains begin to muddy camps.

"It is obviously going to take longer than what we have before the rainy season," said Knutson.

Aid workers will also seek to find out whether those who are homeless have family members they can live with for the time being.

The government is seeking to create new camps where people could be moved to as well, but locating available areas has been difficult.

Some of those homeless in the Champ de Mars, a sprawling camp where some 16,000 people are living, had mixed feelings about the plan.

Several said they would like to return if the rubble of their former houses is cleared, but they warned it could take weeks. Others said they were renting before and likely could not go back.

Some also said they did not have family to stay with.

"Everybody in the family were victims (of the quake)," said Lina Decle, 25, who lives in a shelter of aluminum sheets and scrap wood along with three others, including her seven-month-old son.

She said she was worried about the coming heavy rains since the downpours that have already occurred have soaked her living area.

"When the rain comes, even the baby is covered in water," said Decle.

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