Squatting As A Form Of Housing Tenure

In housing tenure, the term tenancy and owner occupancy are considered as some of the most common forms of housing tenure. However, according to many professionals, before the start of tenancy and owner occupancy, the term squatting has already been used to describe a form of home ownership.

According to many professionals, squatting is one of the most common problems faced by almost every country around the world, particularly in the Philippines. However, although squatters are known for their notoriety in causing havoc and problems to neighboring residential areas and business districts, many professionals still consider the term squatting as a form of housing tenure, which is commonly known for its use to describe tenancy and owner occupancy. So what is squatting?

Squatting as Housing Tenure

Squatting is an act in which an individual or a set of individuals occupy an abandoned or unoccupied space without permission from the owner. According to many authors, including Robert Neuwirth, there are one billion squatters globally, that is, about one in every seven people on the planet. If an area of a city is populated with squatters, these areas are commonly known as the slums, shanty towns, or more commonly known as the squatters' area.

Squatters' areas are usually built on the edges of major cities and consisting almost entirely of self-constructed housing built without the landowner's permission. However, according to many Real estate Philippines experts, these squatters' areas may, in time, grow to become both legalised and indistinguishable from normal residential neighbourhoods. They start, however, with minimal basic infrastructure such as the lack of proper sewage system and drinking water.

According to Anarchist Colin Ward, "Squatting is the oldest mode of tenure in the world, and we are all descended from squatters. This is as true of the Queen [of the United Kingdom] with her 176,000 acres (710 km²) as it is of the 54 per cent of householders in Britain who are owner-occupiers. They are all the ultimate recipients of stolen land, for to regard our planet as a commodity offends every conceivable principle of natural rights."

Squatting in the Philippines

Philippines is one of the many Asian countries known for their problems in squatting. In Metro Manila, squatting is a major issue in Filipino society, especially in industrialized areas of the society. Squatting was started after World War II, as people built makeshift houses called Barong-Barong in abandoned private-property plots.

However, according to many Real estate Philippines professionals, the government have tried to relocated these squatters to low-cost housing projects, especially in Tondo (in the former Smokey Mountain landfill), Taguig (BLISS Housing Project), and Rodriguez (formerly Montalban), Rizal.