Regularizing housing land development during the transition to market-led supply in Tanzania (original) (raw)
Related papers
2020
Informal settlements in Tanzania accommodate more than 70% of the urban population. Owing to this, the Tanzanian government has undertaken several initiatives to address the growing size and number of informal settlements. One such initiative is regularisation which addresses security of tenure for residents of these settlements. Most of the people living in informal settlements lack legal land ownership and as a result properties in such settlements have relatively less value and lack security of tenure. Providing security of tenure is believed to encourage investment into informal households and facilitate the provision of urban services. This study aims to evaluate the process of regularisation in three Tanzanian settlements; Magengenu in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania's largest city), Ibungilo and Isamilo in Mwanza city (the nation's second largest city). Using qualitative data the paper explores the challenges and opportunities that emerged from regularisation. Findings indicate that the regularisation process has facilitated the issuance of title deeds, increased land value and security of tenure. However, a number of challenges were highlighted during regularisation. These include an over-emphasis on the protection of private rights while undermining public interests, a lack of harmonised cost for regularisation, and prolonged delays in completing the regularisation process. These require policy actions, particularly reviewing the national informal settlements regularisation guidelines, as a way to address the weaknesses emerging from regularisation projects in the studied settlements. We conclude that land regularisation remains an important tool to enhance livable cities and protect long-term public and private interests in land development. In order to achieve this, supportive policy actions are required to support the protection of public interests in land regularisation and harmonise the costs of regularisation.
Environment and Urbanization
Between half and three-quarters of new housing development in African cities has been taking place on land acquired through informal channels. This paper offers insights from a study of self-builders’ investments in informal land and housing in Dar es Salaam and Mwanza, two of the largest and fastest-growing cities in Tanzania. The findings demonstrate that self-builders’ investments in informal land and self-built housing are inextricably linked with household wealth accumulation processes and long-term security. In light of the research findings, the paper offers reflections on the potential impacts of ongoing land formalization processes. The paper argues that the informal housing system has far more advantages than appreciated by proponents of formalization, that the vision of bringing “dead capital” to life is misleading, and that the anticipated emergence of active formal markets for land and housing may not serve the needs or interests of low- and middle-income households.
Secure land tenure and property rights are fundamental to housing development and livelihoods, and a cornerstone for the realisation of human rights and for poverty reduction among the urban poor, women included. Thus, secure land rights are particularly important in helping reverse gender discrimination, social exclusion of vulnerable groups, and wider social and economic inequalities linked to inequitable and insecure access to land. All over the world, National Land policies are being subjected to changes in order to accommodate gender issues. In Tanzania, The Land Policy of 1997 aims at, inter alia, promoting an equitable distribution of, and access to land by all citizens without any gender discrimination. The same is stipulated in the National Land Act of 1999 No 4 and 5. Equitable access can be achieved by ensuring that land allocation process is fair to both men and women and all the vulnerable groups. The paper tries to review some past initiatives which attempted to help the urban poor to access land for housing and their failures; and focuses on the success story proved by the famous Dar es Salaam 20,000 Plots Project in being gender sensitive and enhancing women security of tenure. The paper recommends that in order to give women and other urban poor more access to land for housing equitably and enhance their security of tenure, hence their land rights, planning regulations and development conditions need to be reviewed to accommodate these vulnerable groups. Current high density plots size seem to beyond the capacity of urban poor to develop, most of them build their houses in progressive stages which is not allowed in planning standards.
According to an estimated one billion people are living in informal settlements, and this population is projected to reach 1.4 billion by 2020 globally. Access to land by this large population and particularly those from developing countries is an uphill task owing to laws governing land distribution that tend to be bureaucratic, and tagging in their tow costs that only few can afford. In a bid to house themselves those of lesser means circumvent formal rules enforced by the legal actors in acquisition of property, and in the process create an informal property market. This market adequately caters for the needs of the participants (informal settlement dwellers) who believe they have rights over the properties they have acquired. Many projects geared towards formalising these perceived property rights are based on imported ideologies and partly implemented with visions of channelling the informally held properties into the formal property market.
Access to land by the urban poor in Tanzania: some findings from Dar es Salaam
Environment and Urbanization, 1995
The paper begins with an analysis of urban land policy in Tanzania, drawing the distinction between planned and unplanned areas. After a consideration of poverty in Tanzania and a brief historical review of urban land allocation, the paper reports on a study carried out in Dar es Salaam in 1993 to better understand the relationship between poverty, housing and access to land.
Dynamics of land for urban housing in Tanzania
Journal of Public Administration and …, 2010
With increased movement of population in search for better settlement and employment, more people tend to be concentrated in urban areas. This article identifies the dynamics of land for urban housing in Tanzania with specific reference to Songea municipality. The article remarks on one hand, weaknesses in the existing institutional framework for urban planning and delivery of land services, unnecessary prolonged procedure and actors in the process with overlapping authorities, roles and lines of accountabilities has been identified as contributing factors to such dynamics, on the other hand, lack of technical capacity, limited financial resources embedded with cumbersome procedures in the whole process of preparation and approval of detailed plans as prepared by land experts has been a catalyst for the low capacity of the municipality in allocating land for housing development to the developers. With the increasing influx of population towards town and cities, land grabbing, institutions need to be reformed to take into account the rapid population dynamics within the society. Municipalities need to be empowered with both technical and financial capacity to facilitate in provision of effective and efficiency services of providing land for housing.
Land policy options for urban Tanzania
Land Use Policy, 1997
This paper discusses land problems in urban Tanzania which, have manifested themselves in recent years as: shortage of planned plots; slow development of planned allocated land; rundown or complete lack of infrastructure in planned neighbourhoods; inequitability, partiality and institutional m616e in land administration; torpid bureaucracy in all levels of land development processes; the proliferation of unplanned areas; and the commoditization of land. Policy options are outlined as simplification and decentralization of land administration, effective cost/value recovery with cross-subsidies where necessary, public participation, and recognition of, and working with, the informal land delivery systems.
URBAN HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN TANZANIA: POLICY, LAW AND THE REALITY
Conference presentation at the University of Antwerp, 2017
There have been many attempts aimed at ensuring that the urban poor have access to quality housing, in terms of access to basic services, infrastructure, materials used and secure land tenure. Such attempts are manifested in different programmes and initiatives which have been pursued by the Government of Tanzania over the years; these include, for example, the Urban Housing Programme, the Sites and Services and Squatter Upgrading Programme, projects by the National Housing Corporation and Schemes of Regularization. It is to be noted that all developments in urban areas in Tanzania must be in accordance with relevant planning laws. As such, housing for the poor in urban areas should be looked at in the context of urban land use planning law and policy. Thus, while the Government is taking some initiatives to address the question of housing, the poor are also required to observe the relevant regulatory regime when setting up their residential houses. By using Dar es Salaam as a case study, the article gives a critical analysis of selected urban planning policy and legislation as well as Government practices and initiatives. The article has established that while at policy level the state seems to commit itself to ensuring that the urban poor have access to decent housing, there are scanty supportive legislative provisions. Furthermore, the selected initiatives and practices do not, actually, work in favour of the urban poor. The article recommends that the Government should formulated and implement a clear policy on housing for the urban poor as well as amending relevant planning legislation. 2
Impact of formalisation of property rights in informal settlements: Evidence from Dar es Salaam city
Land Use Policy, 2011
This paper aims to study the responsiveness of the informal property market and management systems towards the introduction of land registration for informal settlements in Tanzania. City governments are increasingly recognising the need to strengthen legal rights for the urban poor as a means to bring them more effectively into the urban economy and ensure better provision of water, sanitation and other primary services. The research focuses on Tanzania and in particular two case studies within Dar es Salaam. The findings of the work suggest that the introduction of residential licenses whilst potentially assisting in creating legal certainty has not resulted in the financial sector accepting them as full security against loans. Accessing credit by the poor however has not yet been fully realised resulting in some further hurdles for the financial sector to overcome. Finally, and of some significance is the registration of property in the informal settlements has provided the opportunity of formal property transactions within these settlements.