Written evidence submitted by Homeless
International
This response is from Homeless International,
a Charity Registered in England and Wales, which was founded as
the UK civil society response to the 1987 International Year
of the Homeless. Homeless International is the international agency
of the National Housing Federation in the UK which represents
1,300 Housing Associations. Homeless International provides
financial and technical support to Community Development Organisations
(CDOs)[99]
that enable the urban poor to develop partnership strategies with
local governments and the private sector that will produce shelter
and settlement solutions that are economically, socially and environmentally
sustainable.
Except where referenced, the statements below
are drawn from Homeless International's experience over 21 years,
working with locally based partners in the global South, and from
its coordination of the DFID and Sida funded Community-led Infrastructure
Finance Facility (CLIFF) in India, Kenya and the Philippines.
In 1996, the UK Government made a commitment
to the Habitat Agenda,[100]
and confirmed this again in 2001 as part of the Istanbul+
5 review.[101]
In September 2000, at the United Nations, the UK Government, with
149 other heads of state pledged to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), including what was to become Target
11, " to improve the lives of at least 100 million slum
dwellers".
This submission seeks to emphasise firstly,
that there is little need to reinvent practice or policy, as the
strategies identified within the Habitat Agenda continue to be
as relevant as they were in 1996, secondly, that there is need
for greater commitment to the implementation of these agreements,
and thirdly, considering the magnitude of the deficit and challenge,
the urban poor, who constitute between 50 and 70% of urban
populations in developing countries, need to be engaged in the
processes of slum upgrading, redevelopment and resettlement[102]
in order to achieve sustainable and scalable delivery.
The Habitat Agenda corresponds strongly to priorities
in the UK, where the need to provide good quality housing for
all, ensure decent incomes and access to opportunity, and to build
sustainable cities remain at the core of Government policy.
Homeless International invites the Select Committee
for International Development to call on DFID to fulfil their
existing commitments to the Habitat Agenda, and to MDG 7 Target
11 by:
— Adopting a strategy that is city-focussed,
and distinct from national priorities.
— Adopting a strategy to strengthen local
government capability, and its capacity to act independently,
to plan and address the needs of present and future urban populations.
— Adopting a strategy to strengthen the
role of Community Development Organisations (CDOs) to effectively
engage in the processes of urban development and slum upgrading
and to ensure greater accountability.
— Working in partnership with the UK Social
Housing Sector (Housing Associations, other Registered Social
Landlords and the Homes and Communities Agency), the Chartered
Institute of Housing, and the Local Government Association to
build the capacity and capability of both local government and
CDOs in the global South.
The following response refers to each of the
questions posed by the Select Committee:
1. How effectively are developing country
governments and donors, particularly DFID, addressing the challenges
presented by urban poverty
"Slums are the products of failed policies,
bad governance, inappropriate legal and regulatory frameworks,
dysfunctional markets, unresponsive financial systems and not
least, a lack of political will."[103]
1.1 Global Scorecard on Slums[104]
The scorecard for performance against MDG Target
11 lists just eight countries as "on track" (countries
experiencing rapid sustained decline in slum growth rates in urban
areas and/or those with a low slum prevalence), 21 countries
as "stabilizing" (countries starting to stabilise or
reverse slum growth rates but in need of regular monitoring to
sustain performance), 23 countries "at risk" (countries
experiencing moderate to high slum growth rates and requiring
remedial policies to reverse growth in numbers of slum dwellers)
and 50 countries as "off target" (countries with
already high slum proportions facing rapid sustained growth rates
and which require immediate, urgent action to slow down or reverse
slum trends). Of the "off target" nations, 36 are
located in Africa, six in Latin America and the Caribbean, two
in the Middle East and six in Asia.
1.2 Local and national factors contributing to
countries being "Off Target":
— Resistance to urban migration:
— Policies that advocate that the poor
are better off in rural areas and that migration to urban areas
should be prevented. Such positions are unintentionally reinforced
by proponents of rural and agriculture development within aid
agencies and organisations.
— Efforts to maintain cities as the exclusive
preserve of powerful elites, and to either deny access to new
urban immigrants, or to ignore their existence and resist their
inclusion or "citizenship".
— Concern that urban immigrants will drain
city resources, despite the opposite being true.
— Forced evictions and relocations to the
urban periphery, resulting from a concern for the city's image
internationally.
— Concern that slum upgrading and providing
secure tenure will attract even more migrants.
— Reluctance to decentralise local government
functions, including the necessary authority and public funding.
— Underfunded and often dysfunctional local
government which is unable to plan, regulate or coordinate the
activities of actors involved in urban development or slum upgrading.
— Politicisation of local government, clientelism,
and the corruption of procurement procedures.
— The absence of integrated city development
planning to guide spatial, economic, environmental, infrastructural,
institutional and financial development.
— The urban poor constitute 50 to
70% of the urban population in developing countries yet are excluded
from development processes. Even in democratic countries there
tends to be little relationship between National/Local government
and the poor beyond the ballot box.
Homeless International Recommendation:
— DFID should support and strengthen local
government institutions, and encourage the decentralisation of
responsibilities, policy management, decision-making authority
and resources, including revenue collection.
— DFID should support the preparation of
City Development Strategies or Integrated Development Plans at
city level. These plans would establish an enabling planning and
policy environment, and a set of institutional arrangements to
coordinate the roles and contributions of local government, private
sector and civil society institutions.
— DFID should support and strengthen Community
Development Organisations (CDOs) as key stakeholders in planning
and slum upgrading processes. The role that CDOs can play has
been effectively demonstrated through the Community Led Infrastructure
Finance Facility (CLIFF),[105]
a programme coordinated by Homeless International and funded by
DFID and Sida.
1.3 Some international aid factors contributing
to countries being "Off Target":
— Flaws in Poverty Reduction Strategy papers
(PRSPs):
— One of the core principles of the PRSP
approach involves "coordinated participation", which
requires civil society involvement. It is questionable that in
contexts in which organisations of the urban poor are not recognised
and there general dearth of civil society organisation, that PRSPs
can be seriously taken to represent the needs and priorities of
poor urban communities.
— A second core principle of the PRSP approach
is "comprehensiveness", which requires recognition of
the multidimensional nature of poverty. ComHabitat[106]
revealed that PRSPs show a general lack of focus on, and understanding
of, urban poverty issues. This prevents governments and donors
being able to take advantage of the considerable opportunities
that exist within urban areas to address poverty, reaching the
MDGs and building an infrastructure for long-term economic growth
and sustainable development.[107]
— Urban poverty is often underestimated,
unrecognised and poorly understood. In many nations, official
poverty lines define significantly fewer urban dwellers as being
poor than would be suggested by an examination of nutritional
levels or health outcomes in urban areas.[108]
Statistics on MDG indicators that contrast figures for rural and
urban areas mask the deprivation in urban slums[109]
where rates of water and sanitation coverage and education enrolment
can be many times lower, and child mortality many times higher,
than richer urban neighbourhoods.
Homeless International Recommendation:
— PRSPs are an unreliable basis for establishing
priorities for aid assistance, or determining Direct Budgetary
Support allocations. Until local governments are effectively decentralised,
and organisations of the urban poor are properly represented,
priorities should be determined through City Development Strategies
or similar processes.
2. DFID's contribution to meeting the MDG
7 target which seeks to improve the lives of slum dwellers
By DFID's own admission "Progress is
lagging: Overall in developing regions the percentage of urban
population living in slums may have decreased slightly. However,
urban population has increased rapidly so that, in 2007, the majority
of people will live in urban areas for the first time in history.
This urban growth has resulted in a larger number of people living
in slums. This is particularly the case for sub-Saharan Africa,
where cities have grown most rapidly, and with almost equal growth
in their slums (4.5% annual growth between 1990 and 2001).
This means that about three quarters of the urban growth is in
slums. In South Asia also, there remains a very high proportion
of slum dwellers, despite a small decrease."[110]
2.1 Shifting Focus and Fragmentation:
DFID cannot be held solely responsible for Target
11, but its early leadership of the Habitat Agenda and MDG 7 Target
11 has declined. There has been departmental restructuring,
diminished technical personnel, and neglect in providing information
about performance against target 11. For example the last factsheet
on Urban Poverty & Slum Dwellers was produced for DFID's website
in 2006; other MDG targets receive more attention in DFID's information
and communication. The multi-sectoral nature of slum upgrading
requires integration and coordination of activities and resources
which is not aided by DFID's departmental and funding fragmentation.
2.2 The Community Led Infrastructure Finance
Facility[111]
(CLIFF)
The DFID and Sida funded Community Led Infrastructure
Finance Facility (CLIFF) has demonstrated the capabilities of
organisations of the urban poor to successfully engage in the
design, planning, financing and implementation of basic services
and housing provision. Although such provision is normally the
responsibility of local government, in the vast majority of urban
contexts it is simply incapable or unwilling to respond to the
needs of slum dwellers. It is imperative therefore, that slum
dwellers are mobilised, organised and capable to meet their own
needs. CLIFF supports such initiative. Another feature of CLIFF
is that it facilitates the joint engagement of donors (DFID and
Sida), intermediaries (Homeless International and Cities Alliance)
and local implementing partners (SPARC, PACSII and Pamoja Trust
and Akiba Mashinani Trust) in planning, monitoring and evaluation,
and in so doing, fosters greater appreciation of the delivery
chain, and the role and responsibility of each actor within it.
2.3 Lessons from CLIFF
— Sustainable and scalable slum upgrading
and re-development requires effective collaboration between local
and national government, organised communities and Community Development
Organisations (CDOs).
— CDO are a critical interlocutor in any
institutional framework established at city level for slum upgrading,
redevelopment or relocation.
— CDOs require capacity and funding to
perform effectively.
— National and local governments can fulfil
their own mandates by facilitating and resourcing the work of
CDOs.
— City Development Strategies are essential
to coordinate the activities of local government and CDOs.
Homeless International Recommendations:
— DFID should elevate the issues of urbanisation
and urban poverty growth alongside climate change.
— DFID should devote a larger share of
increased ODA to human settlements programmes and urban development,
not only to meet MDG 7 target 11, but also the other MDGs
that are dependent upon a safe and healthy living environment.
— DFID should coordinate its urban focus.
Slum upgrading is a multi-sectoral and cross-cutting intervention
requiring integration and coordination between development finance,
governance, infrastructure (water, sanitation, energy, housing,
transportation), services (health, education), and climate change
investments.
— DFID should increase "funding to
finance community-based slum upgrading" as a Quick Win for
achieving the MDGs;[112]
and explore options to leverage and blend finance from public
and private sources.
— DFID should develop new mechanisms of
capital financing for urban development, exploring with donors
options to use debt forgiveness finance to capitalise local funds,
which are accessible to local governments and CDOs and can be
used to support slum upgrading, negotiated resettlement and infrastructure
provision.
3. The Provision of Basic Services and Infrastructure
in Slums, including Energy, Housing, Transport, Sanitation, Water,
Health and Education
Cities are littered with the remnants of projects,
previously considered to be panaceas, and single sector programmes.
The Habitat Agenda, UN Habitat's Challenge of Slums[113]
and a plethora of other guideline documents by the Cities Alliance,
the Institute of Housing Studies and others articulate best practices
related to land and tenure, regulatory frameworks, domestic infrastructure
(water and sanitation), public infrastructure (roads, transport,
urban markets), housing, social infrastructure (schools, clinics),
security and safety issues, social exclusion, etc. There is no
need for reinvention, or redrafting. What is most important is
that the prioritisation of interventions and investments is demand-driven,
and that the development process is viewed strategically.
Homeless International Recommendations:
— DFID should support and strengthen local
government institutions, and encourage the decentralisation of
responsibilities, policy management, decision-making authority
and sufficient resources, including revenue collection authority.
— DFID should support the preparation of
City Development Strategies or Integrated Development Plans at
city level. These plans would establish an enabling planning and
policy environment, and a set of institutional arrangements to
coordinate the roles and contributions of local government, private
sector and civil society institutions.
— DFID should support and strengthen Community
Development Organisations (CDOs) as key stakeholders in planning
and slum upgrading processes. CDOs can play a critical role as
trusted intermediaries, and implementing agencies.
— DFID should support investment in urban
development and slum upgrading. There is ample evidence to demonstrate
that cities serve as the generators of economic development and
that housing infrastructure has considerable multiplier effects.
4. Supporting Opportunities for Employment
and Livelihoods for the Urban Poor
Best practices[114],[115]
suggest that a participatory planning approach and the creation
of partnerships between slum communities and the public, private
and NGO sectors serve to build local capacity and create employment.
The supply chains involved in slum upgrading generate employment
in professional services, construction materials manufacture and
supply, construction management and labour, maintenance, financing,
households goods, etc. The introduction of public infrastructure
such as roads transport, market spaces serves to generate new
economic activities and sources of income. Similarly social infrastructure
(schools, clinics) generates thresholds that stimulate economic
activity.
5. The Role of Property Rights in Improving
the Lives of Slum Dwellers
Property rights have an important but limited
and context-specific role in improving the lives of slum dwellers.
Land remains a critical bottleneck in addressing slum upgrading
and housing backlogs, including land planning (future urban population
growth), land provisioning (assigning land for the purposes of
housing the poor), land suitability (location to jobs, infrastructure
and services), transparent land release and acquisition procedures,
and the cost of land (particularly where government does not provide
land, and where the poor have to compete on open land markets).
Improving security of tenure is central to improving
the lives of slum dwellers.[116]
Security of tenure enables slum dwellers to invest in the improvement
of their own homes and living conditions and to access essential
services, whereas the threat of forced eviction inhibits investment
and places people in constant fear that their homes may be demolished.
Security of tenure is not solely a matter of having legal title
to the land. Individual title is not the only, and frequently
not the most effective, means through which tenure can be secured.
In fact "a title document just puts land on the market, it
doesn't give security of tenure".[117]
Less focus has also been made on right of tenants or lodgers who
rent a small space. Some countries have no legislation on tenancy
rights, and where it exists it may be obsolete. Legal protection
of tenancy rights would be of benefit to poor people—particularly
for women.[118]
DFID's Policy Paper on Land, launched in July
2007 and entitled "Land: better access and secure rights
for poor people" touches on two key issues. The first looks
at how to unlock economic opportunities for poor people, by ensuring
that they can access land fairly and efficiently, and the second
tackles governance failures that prevent poor people from accessing
land and securing their rights. In addition UN Habitat has issued
the "National Campaign for Secure Tenure",[119]
and "Secure Land Rights for All"[120]
which highlight best principles and practice. The challenge now
is to implement these policies and principles.
Homeless International Recommendations:
— Precise strategies and policies for ensuring
access to land, and security of tenure should be determined contextually.
— DFID should explore with donor countries
options to exchange developing country debt, for land allocations
for housing urban poor.
6. The Implications of the Current Global
Financial Downturn for Urbanisation in Developing Countries
6.1 Costing achieving Target 11
The costs for improving the lives of 100 million
slum dwellers and providing alternatives to new slum formation
which would benefit another 700 million potential slum dwellers
was calculated at $830 billion.[121]
This cost which now appears quite reasonable in the context of
recent bank bail outs.
6.2 Housing as an Economic Stimulus
Public investment in housing and infrastructure
can stimulate economic recovery and should be viewed as a productive
investment, as emphasised by UN Habitat's Executive Director in
a recent speech.
"While the current financial crisis extends
beyond the initial crisis of poorly-regulated housing finance
systems, most experts agree that one of the most effective ways
of stimulating economic recovery—or avoiding the slide into
economic recession—is public investment in housing and infrastructure.
China … decided last year to inject some $600 billion
into its own economy, two thirds of it devoted to green infrastructure
and pro-poor housing. Experts concur that investment in housing
and urban infrastructure, properly planned and managed, helps
create jobs and stimulates demand across all sectors of the economy.
They also concur that these forms of investments help position
cities and countries more competitively for the future.
…. It is clear that housing is not a
social expenditure but a productive investment. Developing countries
should take cue from the massive bail out packages that developed
nations have made to revive this sector.
Although housing finance in developing countries
is in permanent crisis as displayed by expansive slums, the sector
has not been able to attract the attention it deserves from Government
as well as their development partners. For example, it still remains
a struggle to have housing deprivation recognized as a critical
dimension of poverty. Few developing countries readily include
housing development into their poverty reduction strategies supported
by the World Bank or UN Development Assistance Frameworks"
( Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director, UN Habitat)[122]
Homeless International Recommendations:
— DFID should devote a larger share of
increased ODA to human settlements programmes and urban development,
not only to meet MDG 7 target 11, but to stimulate local
economies. There is ample evidence to demonstrate that cities
serve as the generators of economic development and that housing
and infrastructure development has considerable multiplier effects.
— DFID should develop new capital financing
mechanisms for urban development, exploring with donors options
to use debt forgiveness finance to capitalise local funds, which
are accessible to local governments negotiated resettlement and
infrastructure provision initiatives.
99 The description "community development organisation"
includes a variety of civil society or third sector institutions
such as community-based organisations, federations of the urban
poor, cooperatives, non-governmental organisations working in
an intermediation or implementation role. UK equivalents would
include Housing Associations, Arms Length Management Organisations
and Cooperatives. Back
100
The Habitat Agenda was adopted by 171 governments at the
United Nations' Habitat II conference in Istanbul in 1996. The
Agenda provides a practical roadmap to an urbanising world, setting
out approaches and strategies towards adequate shelter for all
and the achievement of sustainable development of the world's
urban areas. Back
101
UK National Report to Istanbul+5, 2001. Back
102
Slum upgrading includes a variety of strategies to improve slum
living conditions (for example improving drainage or sanitation);
redevelopment involves comprehensive replacement of existing housing
and infrastructure; whilst negotiated resettlement may be necessary
for slums located on unsafe ground or on land that is needed for
city infrastructure development. Back
103
Tannerfeldt, G. and Ljung P. (2006) More urban, Less Poor,
London: Earthscan. Back
104
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (2006) State of
the World's Cities report 2006-07, Nairobi: UN-Habitat. Back
105
CLIFF is coordinated by Homeless International and currently operates
in India, Kenya and the Philippines. See www.homeless-international.org/cliff. Back
106
ComHabitat is a partnership of government and other agencies working
to improve human settlements in Commonwealth countries, formerly
funded by DFID. See www.comhabitat.org Back
107
Commonwealth Secretariat (2005) PRSPs, Human Settlements and
Urban Poverty, Submission of ComHabitat to the Commonwealth
Finance Ministers' Meeting, FMM(05)(INF)1. Back
108
Satterthwaite, D (2004) "The under-estimation of urban poverty
in low-and middle-income nations", Poverty Reduction in
Urban Areas Working Paper Series (Working Paper 14), London:
IIED). Back
109
United Nations (2005) The Millennium Development Goals Report
2005, New York: United Nations. Five core principles underlie
the PRSP approach: strategies should be country-driven, result-oriented,
comprehensive, partnership-oriented, and based on a long-term
perspective for poverty reduction. Back
110
DFID (2006) DFID Fact Sheet: Urban Poverty & Slum Dwellers,
London: DFID. Back
111
Outcomes of the Networking session on the Community Led Infrastructure
Finance Facility CLIFF, held during the World Urban Forum, Nanjing,
2008. Back
112
UN Millennium Project (2005a) Investing in Development: A practical
plan to achieve the millennium development goals, New York:
UNDP. Back
113
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (2003) The Challenge
of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements, Nairobi: UN
Habitat. Back
114
Majale, M. (2007) l Employment creation through participatory
urban planning and slum upgrading: The case of Kitale, Kenya
Global Research Unit, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape,
Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 2007. Back
115
Aiello, A. and Robbins, G, (2005), Study on "employment
aspects of slum upgrading" practices and opportunities identified
in two South African case studies, Geneva: ILO. http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/recon/eiip/download/workshop/slumup.pdf Back
116
UN Millennium Project (2005a) Investing in Development: A practical
plan to achieve the millennium development goals, New York:
UNDP. Back
117
Jane Weru, Executive Director, Pamoja Trust-personal communication. Back
118
Tannerfeldt, G. and Ljung P. (2006) More urban, Less Poor,
London: Earthscan. Back
119
UN Habitat (2003) Guidelines on how to undertake a National Campaign
for Secure Tenure, Global Campaign for Secure Tenure, Nairobi:
UN Habitat. Back
120
UN Habitat: Secure Land Rights for All, 2008. Back
121
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (2006) State of
the World's Cities report 2006-07, London: Earthscan. Back
122
Tibaijuka, Anna, Opening Ceremony of the 22nd session of the Governing
Council of UN-Habitat, Nairobi, 30 March 2009. Back
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