Factors influencing growth of informal settlements: a case of Bangladeshi slum, Changamwe constituency, Mombasa county, Kenya

This research study was on the Factors Influencing Growth of Informal Settlements: A Case of Bangladesh Slum, Changamwe Constituency, Mombasa County. In spite of all efforts and the introduction of various housing policies in the country, informal settlements continue being a permanent feature in our community. In view of this, the study sought to investigate the factors influencing the growth of informal settlements in Bangladesh slum, Changamwe constituency. In particular it sought to detennine the extent to which industrialization, poverty, unemployment and population growth contribute to the growth of informal settlements. The study was conducted through survey method. Data was collected using questionnaires and guides from 90 household heads obtained through cluster sampling in Bangladesh slum and 10 key informants purposively selected. It was then analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and presented in tables percentages and t-test. The study revealed that informal settlements were the product of rapid urbanization and industrialization in that, most o f the people who were living in the slums worked in the many factories and industries surrounding the area. The study also revealed that the levels of poverty in the community were high and this played a major role in the choice of housing for community members, most of whom could afford cheap, informal settlements. Further, unemployment and its associated problems contributed immensely towards the growth of informal settlements in the community because most of the unemployed people lived in alternative settlements that were not expensive. Finally the study revealed, due to the large family sizes, the respondents, most of whom were poor chose to live in cheaper, informal housing. Further research could be carried out to establish the impact of devolution and the establishment of devolved units on the growth of informal settlements. CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study Housing is important because it provides privacy and security as well as protection against physical elements. Good housing improves the health and the productivity of the occupants and thereby contributes to their wellbeing and to broader economic and social development. Housing is also a good investment and house owners often use their property to save. Housing is an important asset for its owner; it can generate income through home-based activities, and it can serve as collateral for loans (Masika. de Haan and Baden, 1997). As continuing economic hardship forces a growing number of migrants to urban areas in search of employment and better life, an even greater strain is placed on urban pressure points like housing. The urbanization of developing countries and the growth of spontaneous settlements are taking place at a scale that national and local governments cannot cope with the demands for appropriate service delivery (Peters, 1998). As people continue to migrate away from rural areas and into cites that are growing to devour the land around it, the numbers of people living in slums, shanty towns and informal settlements are skyrocketing (Tovrov, 2011). The locus of global poverty is moving from rural areas to the cities, and more than half of the world population now lives in urban areas for the first time in human history. Slums come about because of, and are perpetuated by, a number of forces. Among these are rapid rural-to-urban migration, increasing urban poverty and inequality, insecure tenure, and globalization; all contribute to the creation and continuation of slums (UNHabitat, 2007). Between 2000 and 2005, a third of Commonwealth countries had urban growth rates between 3 and6 per cent (UNHabitat, 2006). Most of the world’s urban population, most o f its largest cities and most of its urban poverty is now located in Africa, Asia and Latin America; the Developing World. Indeed the growth in slums since the 1980s is both formidable and unprecedented and the number of slum dwellers worldwide is