Obstacles to Housing Improvement
A little background information salvaged from an essay I wrote a while back may serve to frame the problems in housing the poor in the world's mega-slums.
Slums are differentiated by the quality of the housing- from substandard to subhuman, location- proximity to work and to services, and permanence- some are torn down on a regular basis while others persist for decades.
Those that are not recognized by authorities are often the fiefdoms of criminal groups which threaten and terrorize residents but which also take the place of the state in providing for the needs of slum-dwellers. The most permanent slums in the South are those that are seen by authorities as too large or established to remove.
Attempts by states to “fix” slums by improving them fail because they do not address the poverty that leads people to live in slums. Upgrading homes and services results in a rise of living costs and end up harming occupants when costs go beyond their means. They are uprooted and forced to move to a new slum, often separating them from social connections they may have come to rely upon or moving them yet farther from their workplace. The new and improved neighborhoods are then occupied by the lower middle class.
Beginning in the 1980s, efforts at solving slum problems were approached via privatization, moving the onus for rebuilding slums from governments to private developers and money-lending banks. Responsibility in this instance was also shifted to those who live in slums, who were expected to help themselves out of their situations.
Increased commodification and formalized structures necessitating the (mostly) legal exchange of money may lead to the building of an improved slum but also makes tenants more dependent and indebted. As is the case with state-driven projects at housing programs, however, rise in quality of life is mirrored by a rise in cost of living, and the poor most in need of assistance are again driven to a slum they can afford.
Notes
Davis, Mike. Planet of Slums. New York: Verso. 2006.
Perreault, Normand. University of New Brunswick POLS 3323 Lectures. Sept. 11 – Oct. 6, 2006.
Halef Gunawan. Rocinha. http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/halefg/.
- Jeff Nadeau
Slums are differentiated by the quality of the housing- from substandard to subhuman, location- proximity to work and to services, and permanence- some are torn down on a regular basis while others persist for decades.
Those that are not recognized by authorities are often the fiefdoms of criminal groups which threaten and terrorize residents but which also take the place of the state in providing for the needs of slum-dwellers. The most permanent slums in the South are those that are seen by authorities as too large or established to remove.
Attempts by states to “fix” slums by improving them fail because they do not address the poverty that leads people to live in slums. Upgrading homes and services results in a rise of living costs and end up harming occupants when costs go beyond their means. They are uprooted and forced to move to a new slum, often separating them from social connections they may have come to rely upon or moving them yet farther from their workplace. The new and improved neighborhoods are then occupied by the lower middle class.
Beginning in the 1980s, efforts at solving slum problems were approached via privatization, moving the onus for rebuilding slums from governments to private developers and money-lending banks. Responsibility in this instance was also shifted to those who live in slums, who were expected to help themselves out of their situations.
Increased commodification and formalized structures necessitating the (mostly) legal exchange of money may lead to the building of an improved slum but also makes tenants more dependent and indebted. As is the case with state-driven projects at housing programs, however, rise in quality of life is mirrored by a rise in cost of living, and the poor most in need of assistance are again driven to a slum they can afford.
Notes
Davis, Mike. Planet of Slums. New York: Verso. 2006.
Perreault, Normand. University of New Brunswick POLS 3323 Lectures. Sept. 11 – Oct. 6, 2006.
Halef Gunawan. Rocinha. http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/halefg/.- Jeff Nadeau
posted by Jeff Nadeau at
4:31 PM
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