ends meet, as is the case in the example from Armenia shown in the Box 4.5. Other households rent their units to generate income as shown in the Moldova example in the same box. In both cases the poor, who received a valuable asset, use this asset as a survival strategy.

At the same time, the development of housing markets provided a mechanism for people to move. Although mobility rates are still significantly below what would be expected given the tremendous changes in the region, mobility now is higher than it was before transition. The introduction of housing markets has meant people who wish to move, and who have the resources to do so, are able to move. Movers include not only people who leave depressed areas for more vibrant places, but also those who move within cities. Both kinds of movers potentially affect the development of poor neighborhoods or slums.

# **Box 4.6.  The Emergence of slums in the peri-urban areas of Bishkek**

Large internal migration flows in the Kyrgyz Republic in the past ten years have seen the emergence of new slums in the periphery of Bishkek—the so-called “Novostroiki.” Today there are 23 precarious settlements in Bishkek, and all of them were named by their residents. The largest has 4800 land parcels, while the smallest have about 100. Many internal migrants often lack the funds for the construction of real houses and therefore live in shoddy structures. Most of these settlements lack basic infrastructure services and are often located in areas where there are adverse environmental health-related impacts.

One of the most populated slums, the Ak-Bosogo settlement, has very serious problems with water supply. Another populated area, Bakai-Ata, is located close to the ash dump of the Bishkek power and heating station, which is the source of heavy pollution. Even a slight wind lifts ash into the air covering all houses and facilities in this residential area. Underground water is very close to the surface and causes destruction and flooding of houses during winter and fall. Other settlements like Altyn Beshik, Kolmo, Ak-Bosogom Aska-tash, Burdinsky, and Ak-Telek are also located in the lower part of the city and are flooded after rains or melting snow, which regularly destroys the houses. Drainage systems are also collapsing due to the lack of funds to repair these systems.

There are important differences across the “Novostroiki” in terms of the demographic characteristics of the residents, which reflect the various regions from where people migrated. In the Salam-Alik settlement, children comprise only 10 percent of the total population. In the Kelechek settlement, for instance, the children make up 70 percent of the total population. Kelechek is mostly inhabited by migrants from the Batken region, which has the highest birth rate in the country.

Source: Rakisheva, K. 2002. “Impact of the Internal Migration Upon the Poverty Problem.” Mimeo. As cited in World Bank - (2003). Kyrgyz Republic: Enhancing Pro <u>poor Growth.</u> In countries such as Kyrgyz, Albania and Azerbaijan, as a result of economic conditions and, in the case of Azerbaijan, the occupation of Azerbaijani territory by Armenia, large numbers of people have left their homes for the capital cities. Hundreds of thousands of relatively poor in-migrants have arrived in the capitals of these cities only to find few affordable housing options. As is the case in other places, the new arrivals have settled in the peri-urban areas where they build houses on unserviced lots. Interestingly, although tenure security is not generally an issue in ECA countries, peri-urban settlers are more vulnerable. In Albania and Azerbaijan peri-urban settlers generally lack any title to the land, although in the case of Azerbaijan most are internally displaced people, a group against which the government is unlikely to take action. In Bishkek, the city has handed out unserviced land plots to people deemed in need of housing (Box 4.6). Recipients build housing on these lots but houses have to be finished and approved by local authorities before people can legally reside in them.<sup>45</sup> Although less visible than peri-urban settlements, evidence increasingly suggests poor people are becoming more concentrated in already established neighborhoods of transition cities, i.e., those with

> 45 Albania Poverty Assessment, Kyrgyz Poverty Assessment and conversations with local officials in Azerbaijan in November, 2003.

53