Wonderful Family

A  slum , as defined by the United Nation agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from a massive 47 percent to 37 percent in the developing world between 1990 and 2005.    Many shanty town dwellers vigorously oppose the description of their communities as ‘slums’ arguing that this results in them being stigmatized and then, often, subject to threats of forcible evictions.   Manila slums In the wake of last week’s torrential rains and floors in the Metropolitan Manila area, the government announced Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo plans to clear major waterways and other danger zones.  Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo was reported by the  Philippine Daily Inquirer  to have said that shanties and other illegal structures along canals, c...

Author’s note:  This is the fifth blog post on the property rights of the poor in the Philippines. Urban poor houses on both sides of an estero (estuary) Experts have highlighted vulnerability, rather than long-term and steady deprivation, as the key concept in understanding urban poverty.  The urban poor are managers of complex asset portfolios but which are exposed to shocks and stress, and the poorer the household, the lower its ability to cope with such crises.  Urban households cope by diversifying their income sources (including illegal ones).  However, the one asset they can least afford to lose, is access to housing in the city.  However small or squalid a shanty may be, it represents probably the largest investment its owners have ever made.  Its loss through eviction often leads to a downward spiral of homelessness, marginalization and further poverty.  Thus, insecure housing and land tenure is the main source of vulnerability fo...