What are the consequences of lacking formal tenure to the place where you live? Can a livelihoods approach help us understand the difficulties faced by the urban poor in seeking secure land and shelter? Could new tenure arrangements reduce insecurity and widen access to credit for those without conventional collateral?

A paper from Geoffrey Payne and Associates assesses what prevents the urban poor from gaining access to legal, affordable and appropriate shelter. The research suggests that people, rather than planners or donors, are the best judges of the type of shelter they need. It calls for efforts to increase the de facto rights of residents in non-legal settlements and to support their livelihoods.

Competition for land in city centres threatens poor people everywhere. Settling on undeveloped land, railtracks, river banks or pavements in order to remain close to livelihood opportunities, they are highly visible and vulnerable to evictions, accidents and abuse. As land prices rise, the poor are unable to afford formal development without expensive subsidies. When these are provided, the subsidies invariably defeat their purpose by benefiting higher income groups.

For the poor who are unable to gain access to legal shelter with formal title, tenure security and the risk of eviction are of great importance. Informal categories of squatting, unauthorised land sub-divisions and houses built or expanded without permits are found across the globe. Even on a single plot, many forms of tenure can exist: in Kolkata (Calcutta), for example, tenants let out rooms to sub-tenants who rent out their beds to shift workers to use in their absence.

The paper notes that:

• many governments define their shelter policies in quantitative terms, rather than in terms of the role that shelter plays in livelihood strategies
• where the number of households in non-formal tenure categories reaches a critical mass, especially when they include government employees, they begin to enjoy de facto protection
• imperfect data on housing deficits is frequently based on definitions which reflect middle-class perceptions of a desirable house
• where governments impose restrictive land-use policies, separating residential, commercial and industrial areas, formal and informal economic activity is often restricted
• donor assisted policies promoting private statutory titles can undermine traditional customary tenure systems, intensify already distorted markets and lead to eviction of tenants.

Projects that emerge from participatory assessments which respond to the needs of diverse groups are more likely to be accepted and ‘owned’ than projects with higher standards that do not reflect people’s needs or interests.

Recommendations for policy-makers include:

• using multi-stakeholder, rather than public-private, partnerships to encourage provision of shelter
• relaxing planning and building regulations to permit mixed residential and non-polluting industrial uses
• reducing entry costs by reducing standards for plot size, building specifications and infrastructure provision
• targeting subsidies, not to housing, but to ensuring access to clean water and sanitation
• supporting credit unions working to provide credit for households unable to provide collateral in the form of formal titles
• redressing the discrimination currently suffered by women in obtaining access to land and shelter.

Source(s):
‘Tenure and shelter in urban livelihoods’ by G. Payne, in ‘Urban livelihoods: a people-centred approach to reducing poverty’, edited by C. Rakodi and T. Lloyd-Jones, Earthscan, 2002, pp151-164 Full document.

Funded by: DFID (IUDD)

id21 Research Highlight: 13 November, 2002

Further Information:
Geoffrey Payne
Geoffrey Payne and Associates
34 Inglis Road
Ealing Common
London W5 3RL
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 20 8992 2683
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8992 2683
Contact the contributor: gkpayne@gpa.org.uk

Geoffrey Payne and Associates

Other related links:
'In defence of landlords: getting rental housing onto the policy agenda'

'Livelihood opportunities?'

UN-HABITAT promotes sustainable human settlements and adequate shelter for all

One World reports on issues of shelter and housing