SQUATTING IN JAMAICAAN OVERVIEW

Desmond HallLecturerDepartment of Sociology, Psychology & Social WorkUniversity of the West IndiesMona

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INTRODUCTION• In recent times, concerns have been mounting

in almost every quarter of the Jamaican society at the level at which these squatter settlements have sprouting out of control and the threats which they pose to the social well-being of the wider population.

• Despite efforts of governments, with the support of international agencies and institutions, and NGOs, to arrest this phenomenon, the growth of these settlements has shown no signs of diminishing.

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DEFINITIONS & CONCEPTS• Who is a squatter?–The term ‘squatter’ is generally used to

describe a person who dwells on a piece of land or occupy a vacant dwelling for which he/she does not have a legal right so to do.

• What is a squatter settlement?–A residential area occupied by squatters

• Squatting– the illegal occupation of land, or the illegal

erection or occupation of a dwelling3

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Residential Speculator squatter Squatter landlord Owner squatter Squatter holdover Semi-squatter Floating squatter Squatter tenant

Squatter Corporation Commercial

Store squatter or occupational squatter Agricultural

TYPES OF SQUATTERS

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SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS: ORIGIN• The development of squatter

settlements in Jamaica began in the early nineteenth century after the abolition of slavery.

• After their ‘so-called’ freedom, slaves were faced with two options: – remain on the plantations and work for the

plantation owners – settle illegally on private or state-owned

land and live as squatters

THE SQUATTER POPULATION• A preliminary survey by the

Ministry of Housing has found that a quarter of Jamaica's population (675 000) live in squatter settlements.• Estimates also indicate that one

of every three urban dwellers live in squatter settlements.

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SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS: CHARACTERISTICS• Most squatter settlements are

characterised by:– Lack of or poor sanitation– Inadequate physical infrastructure– Poor quality housing– Improvised dwellings– High housing density– High levels of unemployment and underemployment– Impoverished people– Absence of social infrastructure 7

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THE HOUSING CRISIS• The housing situation in Jamaica is

desperate. A range of issues are responsible for this situation.– Urbanisation– An acute shortage of adequate housing– Poverty– Unemployment– Housing cost and affordability– Poor housing quality & condition– Lack of access to finance for housing– Low housing production levels– Obsolescence housing stock

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THE HOUSING CRISIS• The nature of the housing crisis has reflected itself in:–Overcrowding–Insanitary conditions–Land capturing–Mushrooming of squatter settlements without the basic services and amenities

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HOUSING POVERTY• Nearly 10.0 per cent of the Jamaican

population were classified as poor in 2007

– [Poverty line $282,000.93 for the reference family of five (two adults and three children) and at $74,349.17 for the individual].

• Poor people face two kinds of housing problems– Their paltry income is eaten up by housing expenses– They always live beside someone else who is poor

• 20.0 per cent of Jamaican households pay more than they can afford for housing.

• A large portion of the so-called’ homeowners are in arrears in their mortgage

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SQUATTER SURVEY 2004: FINDINGS• 595 squatter settlements were identified

across the country• 488 or 82% of these settlements are located

in the urban areas• 76% of the settlements are on government

lands• 16% of settlements are on private lands

including lands belonging to the church• Land ownership of 8% of settlements could

not be determined

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SQUATTER SURVEY 2004: FINDINGS• 11% of the settlements originally had

formal lease agreement with government, however, this was abandoned over time

• 36% of the settlements have been in existence for more than 25 years

• Hanover is the only parish in which no new settlement emerged within the last decade

• Clarendon, St. Catherine and St. James have seen accelerated growth of squatter settlements within the last five years

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SQUATTER SURVEY 2004: FINDINGS• In the parish of Manchester there

were no evidence of squatting on government lands

• In the squatter settlements male household heads were dominant–Male household head 49.4%–Female household head 18.7%– Joint headship 1.3%

• The average household size was 3.0

SQUATTER SURVEY 2004: FINDINGS• Employment status of squatters:• 34.7% were self-employed • 17.6% were in full time employment• 16.6 % were in part-time employment• 14.2% were seasonally employed• 12.1% were unemployed

• A large percentage of the females squatting were employed as domestic helper 14

SQUATTER SURVEY 2004: FINDINGS• When respondents were questioned on the

reasons for squatting they offered the following:– Nowhere to live– Unable to find accommodation– Rental accommodation too high– Know people in the settlement and followed them– An appropriate place to set up commercial

establishment, e.g. workshop– Political – To save money for a specific venture 15

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WHY DO SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS EXIST?• Rapid urbanisation and inadequate

capability to cope with the housing needs of people

• Inability of the housing sector to provide affordable housing units

• Failed policies• Bad governance• Corruption• Inappropriate regulations

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WHY DO SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS EXIST?

• Dysfunctional land markets• Unresponsive financial systems• A fundamental lack of political

will• Acute housing shortage• Economic hardships• Availability of idle lands

SOCIAL IMPACTS OF SQUATTING

• The lack of social amenities, public facilities and the idleness that characterizes squatter settlements encourage theft of public services and often promote socially deviant behaviour.

• This is evident in the large incidence of stolen electricity and water supply in many squatter communities.

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SOCIAL IMPACTS OF SQUATTING

• Educational opportunities are very limited in squatter communities because there are hardly any schools nearby.

• Children have to travel far to attend school, and to make matters worse education is not a priority in these communities.

• Consequently, there are numerous school dropouts, with many children not going beyond the elementary level (Ferguson B., 1996). 19

SOCIAL IMPACTS OF SQUATTING

• Squatter settlements are often characterized by threats of eviction, which undermine personal security. • Squatters generally lack

protection from disasters like fire and floods that destroy property on a regular basis.

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HEALTH IMPACTS OF SQUATTING

• Air-borne diseases like acute respiratory infections are common due to overcrowding and poor ventilation.• Outbreaks of water borne diseases

like cholera and typhoid are very prevalent because of the absence of proper water supply systems, sewage and solid waste disposal systems.

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HEALTH IMPACTS OF SQUATTING

• Foul-smelling garbage and smells from open gullies affect squatter communities, especially children.

• Single mothers in squatter communities often leave their young children unattended when they go to seek work, thereby risking children’s injury and sometimes death. The dilemma for these women, however, is that their failure to seek work can mean starvation for their families. 22

HEALTH IMPACTS OF SQUATTING

• Unreliable collection of waste often results in the prevalence of rats, cockroaches and spiders, all of which may pause a health hazard especially to children.

• The implication of all of the above is that squatter settlements are a potential health hazard not only to their inhabitants, but also to the public at large that interfaces with many of these people on a daily basis.

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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF SQUATTING

Associated with the risk to human health is the damage to the physical environment arising from the squatting process.

• Because squatters are unable to afford electricity, they tend to rely on firewood and charcoal for cooking, leading to deforestation of their surroundings.

• Dwellings of squatters are often crammed together, thereby making them especially exposed to the spread of fire.24

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF SQUATTING

• Squatter settlements are often located in environmentally vulnerable areas such as steep hillsides, next to industrial sites, flood planes and swamps.

• Inadequate disposal of sewage and solid waste leads to the contamination and pollution of rivers, waterways, gullies, drains and ground water supplies 25

ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF SQUATTING

• Sprawling squatter settlements that do not relate to any existing growth centres increase the demand and cost of urban services.

• Unplanned settlements may also cause the destruction of areas of ecological importance such as mangroves, which also have an impact on the fishing industry.

• There are also economic costs resulting from the conversion of lands suitable for agriculture, tourism and industrial uses to unproductive illegal settlements.

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ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF SQUATTING

• Because squatters reside and work on land to which they have no rights, they are highly insecure, thus undermining their ability to be productive members of society.

• Squatters are often rejected and shunned by potential employers because of the bad reputation associated with the ghettos in which they live, leading to their high levels of unemployment and a feeling of exclusion.

• Ironically, squatters often pay more than their wealthier neighbours for the few services they may get because they lack the basic infrastructure like roads that make access to those services much easier and cheaper.

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HOUSING INTERVENTION STRATEGIES• Demolition & Forced Eviction [Slum

Clearance]• Sites and Services• Urban Upgrading• Starter Homes• Programme for Resettlement and Integrated

Development Enterprise [Operation PRIDE]• Relocation 2000• Inner City Housing Programme [ICHP]

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RECOMMENDATIONS

SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS• Accelerate the squatter

regularisation programme• Streamline the land titling process• Promote incremental infrastructure

development• Encourage aided self-help to

improve the living conditions in regularised settlements 30

SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS• Seek low-interest international loans and/or grants to on-lend to beneficiaries consistent with the ability to repay or to provide subsidies as necessary• Aggressively monitor government lands to prevent further squatting

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SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS• Establish and rigorously enforce

laws to address squatting• Develop squatter management

policy• Restructure and strengthen the

capacity of the Squatter Management Unit in the MOWH to work in coordination with Local Government 32

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SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS: EVICTION• To dismantle and move squatter

communities to areas outside the urban centres would be an unacceptable policy as it will not bring the expected environmental improvements desired by the State.

• By moving them far away from the city, squatters would be deprived of employment, education, and access to basic infrastructure and services.

SQUATTER RIGHTSSquatter has rights:• Squatters cannot be legally evicted from premises

without a court possession order, unless they leave voluntarily or the owner secures peaceable re-entry.

•  If a private landowner leaves his land unsupervised and leaves the squatter undisturbed for 12 years or more, then the informal settler can claim the land through the process of adverse possession under the Limitations of Actions Act.

• It is important to understand that squatting and trespassing are not necessarily the same. Trespassing is a criminal offense and squatting is technically a civil matter. 34

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SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS• Squatters need help in making the transition

from inhabitants of precarious urban settlements to citizens with full human rights and civic responsibilities. This transition will be abetted by the adoption of the following principles:– Fighting poverty without fighting the poor– Fighting squatting, not squatters, through

improved capacity in urban physical planning– Recognise the importance of gender as an

explicit consideration in all squatter settlements improvement strategies, plans, programmes and activities

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CONCLUDING COMMENTS•The test of our progress is not whether we add to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide enough to those who have little.– Franklyn Delano Roosevelt, 32nd US. President (1933-1945).

HIGH POPULATION PRESSURE

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JAMAICA URBAN & RURAL POPULATION: 1943-2001

22

32

41.2

47.8 50.1 52.1

78

68

58.8

52.2 49.9 47.9

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

1943 1960 1970 1982 1991 2001

Year

Urban Rural

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1. Kingston & St. Andrew

2. St. Catherine3. Clarendon4. St. Ann5. Westmoreland6. Portland7. St. Mary8. Trelawny9. St. James10. St. Thomas11. St. Elizabeth12. Hanover13. ManchesterSQUATTER SETTLEMENTS IN JAMAICA at 2004

95

69

66

59

53

45

44

43

42

27

22

19

11

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SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS: LAND OCCUPATION

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Squatter Settlements Distribution

7% 1% 16%

76%

Government lands

Privately owned lands

Govt./Private Sectorownership

Ownership unknown

774

ROADWAY

SITES & SERVICESOPTION 3: Party Walls, Lot Services, Bath core and Studio

Services Party Walls

Lot Boundary

Bathroom

STUDIO

STARTER HOUSE

SQUATTER SETTLEMENT: CANTERBURY, ST. JAMES

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SQUATTER SETTLEMENT : GRANVILLE, ST. JAMES