At least 15 people, including at least two children, were killed in a suspected arson attack on a high-rise apartment block housing low-income families, in a southern suburb of Paris. The third major fire to hit the French capital in just over a week, the French police suspected the blaze was started deliberately. Unlike the previous fires, the 04 September blaze did not consume housing for immigrants, but a low-cost, social apartment block, which housed 800 people in 110 flats.
Seventeen people, mainly African, were killed in a fire on 26 August, and three days later seven immigrants died in rundown housing, in the Marais neighbourhood. Another 24 Africans, who were awaiting a new place to live, were killed in a fire that destroyed the Paris-Opera hotel, another rundown building, in April. The fires raised questions about the safety and treatment of immigrants, and caused President Jacques Chirac to demand action to prevent further such tragedies.
The Independent Online, 05 September 2005
Dawn, The Internet Edition, 04 September 2005
Residents of Melbourne are being forced to choose between a home or a job, as declining housing affordability in the inner and middle suburbs forces them to outer areas with few work opportunities.
Research on affordability for the Department of Premier and Cabinet shows a growing number of families are being priced out of suburbs with plentiful jobs, transport, and schools. And, to buy their homes, they are making trade-offs including paying a lot to commute, or surviving on lower household incomes.
The report, by leading housing academics from Swinburne and RMIT Universities, contributed to the Government's Fairer Victoria statement earlier this year. It warns that a concentration of low-income households in struggling suburbs could "undermine social cohesion" and create an "urban blight". The report found:
The Age, 7th September 2005
"Uh-Ah-Chavez no se va!" chanted the red-dressed crowd to the catchy beat of the band "Madera." It was just like August 2004 all over again. Was this perhaps an event to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the defeat of the presidential recall referendum that was held almost exactly one year ago? No, this was something far more important. It was the celebration of the handing out of over 10,000 land titles to families living in Venezuela's poorest urban neighbourhoods, in the barrios.
Flying below the radar of most Venezuela observers, both pro- and anti-Chavez, Venezuela is undergoing a quiet revolution, in which urban land reform promises to dramatically improve the lives of millions of Venezuela's poor. The urban land reform is functioning as a catalyst for the mobilisation of Venezuela's barrios, following the fizzling out of the Bolivarian Circles and the Electoral Battle Units (UBEs). It is a mobilisation that is independent of the government, but was jump-started by the government's decision to issue land titles. It has led to the mobilisation of over 5,000 land committees, representing a total population of more than 5 million Venezuelans, or 20% of the population. This makes the urban land committees Venezuela's largest organised social movement.
The Urban Land Committees (CTU - Comité s de Tierras Urbanas) were called into life with presidential decree 1,666 on February 4, 2002. That is not to say that the President created the committees by decree, but rather that the decree established the legal parameters for the creation of such committees. The decree specified that Venezuelans who live in self-built homes on occupied land, which is the case for nearly all of Venezuela's poor, can appeal to the government for title to the land. It is estimated that up to 60% of Venezuela's population of 26 million live in such communities or barrios as they are known in Venezuela.
The main mechanism for acquiring title to the land, which some have occupied for decades, are the land committees, where 100 to 200 families that live in a contiguous area elect about seven individuals to represent their community (the average size is 147 families). The committees then register with the National Technical Office for the Regularization of Urban Land Tenancy. The technical office then provides the committees with training and help to measure out the families' plots of land and to initiate the process of acquiring title to the land. In some cases, land committees have requested collective land titles.
The land committees, however, have evolved to do much more than just measure land and process title claims. The technical office encourages them to write a "barrio charter," which lays out the history of that particular barrio and the community's rules and principles. In addition, land committees have begun to form sub-committees that deal with public utility companies, such as water and electricity supply, sewage and garbage disposal, the organisation of cultural events, the management of security concerns, the initiation of neighbourhood improvement projects, and other issues. Most importantly, though, the CTUs empower communities in an unprecedented way, giving them a real sense of ownership over their habitat.
As of mid 2005, the National Technical Office has issued over 84,000 titles to 126,000 families, benefiting about 630,000 barrio inhabitants. With a total estimated barrio population of around 10 million, the project still has a ways to go.
Considering that housing experts estimate that Venezuela needs a minimum of 135,000 new homes per year and that there is an accumulated deficit of nearly one million homes, and that the private home building sector constructed even less than the public sector, Venezuela is facing a severe housing crisis. It thus appears that the only way out of this housing crisis is to help Venezuelans to help themselves as far as their housing is concerned.
Venezuelanalysis.com, 12th September 2005
In Ha Noi, The Ministry of Construction has finalised a "social housing" strategy, under which the Government will directly invest in housing projects for low-income earners. The move calls for allocating between 10 and 15% of newly built houses annually as "social housing" with prices affordable for low-income earners who have not yet had their own homes or have an average floor area of less than 5 sq. metre per person.
The Government is expected to grant the reduction or exemption of land use right fees, or apply preferential policies on taxes for social housing projects, said Trinh Huy Thuc, Head of the Housing Management Department under the Ministry of Construction.
The funding for these projects will come from the sales and leasing of State-owned houses, between 30 and 50% of proceeds from land leasing of commercial housing projects, as well as donations from individuals and organisations in Vietnam and abroad.
Once approved by the Government, the project will test-run in Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City, the northern port city of Hai Phong, the southern industrial cities of Dong Nai and Binh Duong before expanding to other urban areas classified as Category Three and above, said sources from the Ministry of Construction.
Vietnam divides urban areas into six categories, with places having a population of more than 100,000 with a density of 8,000/sq.km, and non-agricultural population of more than 75% classified as Category Three.
Housing is becoming a headache in urban areas, especially Ha Noi and HCM City. Ha Noi, for example, has over 40% of its population in a shortage of housing, with 15% extremely destitute of housing, according to preliminary reports. Meanwhile, HCM City is in need of accommodation for some 180,000 workers of industrial zones and students and tens of thousands of apartments for low-income earners, excluding homes for tens of thousands of tenants to be displaced for new construction projects.
The two cities have launched some housing projects for low-income earners to ease the demand. HCM City plans to build a number of 10-15 storey buildings with apartments as large as between 36 sq.m. to 108 sq.m.
Priorities will be given to those who work for State agencies, especially in educational, medical and administrative services, and those who work for other economic sectors with stable incomes.
In Ha Noi, the Department of Natural Resources, Environment and Housing has been assigned to consider a project on low-cost housing for lease to provide accommodations for those who are unable to buy houses.
Vietnam News Agency: 26th September