A squatter settlement can generally be defined as a residential area in an urban locality inhabited by the very poor who have no access to tenure of land on their own, and hence
“squat” on vacant land, either private or public (Taher and Ibrahim, 2014). These settlers are usually occupying land illegally in the context of the law. The dwellers do not have any property right over the land which they are living on. People living in the informal settlements are unable to either sell their property, rent it out or resale it. Rather live in fear of eviction as the property is either private or government land. In Fiji there has been a significant rise in the number of informal settlers mainly due to increased rate of urbanization.
The major contributing…show more content… The theoretical solution to an increasing squatter settlement in Fiji could be security of land tenure through land leasing titles, however practically there exist many challenges. This assignment seeks to provide a historical overview of squatter settlements in Fiji, provide some underlying causes of these settlements and land tenure being a solution to the increased informal settlements. It also focuses on governments national housing policy and the implications of Fiji towards the United
Nations Millennium Development Goals followed by a few concluding remarks.
2.0 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF SQUATTERS
History has shown that the squatter settlements in Fiji have always been on a rise. From…show more content… The security of tenure derives from the fact that the right of access to and use of land and property is underwritten by a known set of rules.
Having insecure tenure risks of rights to land is threatened by either competing claims or eviction. Similarly, when people in the urban do not have ownership rights towards their settlements the tendency for improvements are discouraged as there is no incentive to invest in something that they will eventually have no ownership right. Lasserve (2006) argues that the lack of security of tenure hinders most attempts to improve shelter conditions for the urban poor, undermines long term planning and distorts prices for land and services.
Providing a land title to the squatters in Fiji will transform homes into a tangible asset. Houses can be further used to accumulate income through renting rooms and flats. The income generated can be a good source of revenue for the people. In many instances in Suva it is seen that people who have secured property rights often rent out their properties. In this way