Despite these challenges, host communities are often the key to ensuring essential assistance services to IDPs, to the work of humanitarian organizations, and to finding durable solutions. They are most often the "first responders" to a crisis, and may welcome, support and assist IDPs upon their arrival. But as displacement becomes protracted, tensions can often result due to competition over scarce resources, employment opportunities, or from underlying religious, ethnic, cultural or other differences - frequently related to or exacerbated by the conflict causing the displacement in the first place. Without IDP frameworks and institutions in place to respond to the particular context and needs of IDPs living within these communities, these tensions and competition over resources and services will usually have a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable IDP groups, such as female-headed households, children and older persons, and leave them exposed to human rights violations, exploitation and poverty.