| This dissertation compares two strategies in improving housing conditions and enhancing beneficiaries' welfare in marginalized settlements. The first strategy is the distribution of land to squatters in resettlement sites. The second strategy, which I label ‘Integrated Development,’ offers a comprehensive assistance package including housing finance, revenue-enhancing schemes (microcredit for small businesses and job creation), infrastructure upgrading, and community development activities.; My research involved extensive fieldwork in Dar El Beida, a remote, unserviced site in Nouakchott, Mauritania's capital. In 1996, the authorities distributed free land parcels, located in Dar El Beida, to resettle squatter families from other areas in Nouakchott. In 1999, Dar El Beida was selected as the pilot site for an integrated development program, called Twizé , devised by way of a partnership between the Mauritanian Commissariat aux Droits de 1'Homme, à la Lutte Contre la Pauvret´, et à l'Insertion, and GRET, a French NGO active in Nouakchott.; The Dar El Beida experience demonstrates that land distribution is not sufficient, in the absence of infrastructure, housing finance, and revenue-enhancing schemes, to ensure the achievement of satisfactory shelter and poverty alleviation results. Indeed, only 5% of the beneficiaries actually resettled in Dar El Beida as of three years and less than 10% initiated some form of shelter improvement. Most people were too poor to improve their housing, and a few decided to postpone construction until infrastructure delivery became imminent to minimize investment risks. Land distribution also had no impact whatsoever on household welfare, and its wealth creation effect was negligible as the depressed land values reflected Dar El Beida's remoteness and lack of infrastructure services.; By contrast, the Twizé integrated development program significantly improved living conditions for its participants. The provision of housing finance encouraged beneficiaries to undertake significant housing investments far in excess of program requirements, and had a spillover effect by inducing some non-Twizé landowners to improve their shelter. Infrastructure upgrading and community development activities also produced substantial benefits. The revenue-enhancement strategy, however, was less successful in improving households' welfare, and especially consumption levels, which may be explained by the short time lag since Twizé activities began. Overall, the integrated development approach may be credited for transforming a marginalized settlement into a viable neighborhood. The idea of incrementally improving housing and infrastructure services while at the same time building a community has, at least thus far, appeared to reconcile the often-conflicting objectives of enhancing land values and minimizing property turnover.; Finally, and contrary to expectation, the evaluation of land distribution and integrated development's cost effectiveness yields similar results. Although land distribution to squatters may be perceived as “housing policy on the cheap” at least when compared to infrastructure delivery, its true (and often unaccounted for) cost tends to be high. Indeed, the land management inefficiencies in Nouakchott encouraged speculation and squatting, while producing little revenues for infrastructure delivery, with the result that low-income settlements such as Dar El Beida remained unserviced. By contrast, while the integrated development approach is expensive, its cost per beneficiary tends to be overestimated in that the presence of large spillovers extends beyond program participants. |
