Stuck with squatting

PEEL THE layers of the squatting problem and you’ll find several issues. There’s the need to uphold the rule of law. And to be compassionate to people in illegal settlements. And what about the demand for affordable housing? And the deficiencies of the Land Settlement Agency (LSA), which should prevent squatting in the first place, and the Housing Development Corporation (HDC), which should deter it?

On all these fronts, the state has been failing.

It took just a few minutes for excavators to knock down structures at Ramjattan Trace, La Horquetta, on February 6.

But it will take a lifetime for the authorities to turn the tide against this seemingly intractable practice that has been hard to deal with for decades.

The squatters are winning. In 2017, the LSA estimated 55,000 families, which it calculated to be at least 200,000 people, were squatting. Last year, agency officials put the figure at 60,000 – meaning it’s safe to say one-fifth of the country might be squatters. Let that sink in. Residents of Ramjattan Trace were already planning to rebuild even before the matter made national news.

The Prime Minister has noted the need for all concerned to uphold laws while being “humane.”

However, whether or not the state enforces legislation does not fully determine humaneness. It also depends on the answer to questions like: Were the residents forewarned? Did they have adequate notice? Is there somewhere else to go?

Being humane should also involve being fair. And not just to squatters.

Is it fair to citizens, some of whom have applied for housing and others who aspire to gain land through personal endeavour, to see squatting condoned? Squatters often occupy areas that the state and private developers could use to meet demand.

Of course, that’s in an ideal world.

The reality is notwithstanding more than $3.1 billion being allocated to the HDC over the last five years alone, and more than $115 million for the LSA, the state has failed to make a real dent on the housing situation and to prevent illegal settlements springing up.

Usual laws of economics have not met the demand for viable housing. The supply problem has stemmed not from a lack of financing or even a gap in the capabilities of the private sector. The problem has been a reduction in purchasing power alongside spiralling land and cement prices.

Squatting is, thus, not just about squatting.

It’s about the need for more robust policies to boost the operations of state agencies.

And it is about the need for stronger fiscal measures to trigger a revolution in productivity, earning power and consumer spending so that houses become more affordable, and more people can lawfully live in them.