4 Articles (Revised/Template)
A person may think that the issue of land scarcity & its affect on homelessness would be non-related. However after research I have discovered that there relationship is more correlated than even I imagined. After reading 4 articles about homelessness & the scarcity of land this is what I learned.
The first article titled, "TN: Land Scarcity Causing Housing Problems for Tsunami Victims" written by S S Singhan, talked about the land scarcity issues that are taking place in Indonesia due to the 2005 Tsunami. Victims of Tami Nadu, including Nagadattinam, Cuddalore, Kanyakumari & Tuticorin Districts were hit the hardest of the Tsunami victims. Various non-governmental organizations have offered to assist, in the rebuilding of the districts, but land scarcity has become a major issue. Even though the NGO’s have offered to build up to 800 homes, the government has only enough land to occupy 225 homes, in addition to this the Coastal Regulation Act bans construction of any sort 500 ft. from the sea coast. The purchase of private property owned by wealthy land owners is being delayed because the government can’t seize it legally, & the price the government wants to pay is not in accordance with the price the land owners want to sell it for.
In many of the damaged districts all across Indonesia the victims of the Tsunami are being placed in temporary shelters that are not intended to be permanent housing solutions for the survivors, it could take years to negotiate terms & land. The second article entitled, "The Faces of Hawaii’s Homeless" written by Sen. Will Espero, discusses the homeless issue in Hawaii. Veterans make up a staggering 26% of Hawaii’s homeless population. Due to post war mental illnesses, which is the most common illness that contributes & prevents these veterans from establishing a sense of social stability. However another one of the most difficult to find housing is the addicts & those who suffer from non combat mental illnesses, who make up a total of 63% of the total homeless population in Hawaii. "Personal responsibility" programs give temporary housing, but require sobriety without providing the adequate help to prevent these individuals from relapsing. Another element of the homelessness in Hawaii is the ex prisoners. Who require the resources to help them become productive members of society. However majority of the re-offenders commit crimes due to the need of the most basic necessities: food, clothes, housing, $. The remaining population of homeless individuals consists of women, some of whom for their survival stay in abusive relationships to keep a place to lay their heads. 37% of the total women that are homeless are homeless due to lose of their homes in divorces; those who are fleeing sexual violence constitutes 10%; and those that leave their parents house 21.5%.
The third article titled, "Homelessness, the poor, & local poverty regulation" written by James Rogers, was about how property zoning & rent control is a major contributor to homelessness. Local property zoning regulations is the serious contributor to the social problem to homelessness. Figures actually say that 3 million Americans are considered homeless.
The study of zoning laws & rent control indicates the importance to the theory of homelessness. "Mix sixty years of local zoning regulation with one part rent control; add a generous dash of wholesale mental hospital deinstitutionalization, and a severe breakdown in family structures, especially among the poor -- and you have a dandy social tragedy" Tom Main writes, "reforming [cities'] housing policies with an eye to increasing the availability of low-income housing." Benard Seigan said, " zoning appears to lower the price of housing for the rich & raise the housing prices for the poor." Policies like zoning and rent control are prime targets for reform, on top of this notion, the consequences of these regulations & laws don’t actually show their results till years later.
Local zoning boards set minimum lot size requirements for residential developments, & pervent more than 1 family to purchase a home under "single family" restrictions. Rent control also prohibits allocating apartments through the price system, which is now becoming a factor in hotels as well.
The last article titled, "Myanmar's Rohingyas, No place like home" written by The Economist print edition is about the Myanmar’s Rohingyas (Muslim) citizens & how they are waiting to regain their lands which are currently being seized by the Junta. This particular Muslim culture called the Rohingyas has always suffered abuse due to the diversity in cultural differences between them & the Burmese. At this time the Junta are refusing to grant the Rohingyas citizenship, leaving nearly 800,000 Rohingyas stateless. The military regime routinely presses them into slave labor, severely restricts their rights to travel and marry, and denies them access to both medical care and education. In Sittwe, the capital; of Rakhine (formerly Arakan), Rohingyas lead severely poor lives.
Many are mixed with the million of illegal Burmese migrants now residing in Thailand. And the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has documented 12,000 in Malaysia, but says that there possibly may be twice that amount. The largest number has fled to Bangladesh. But the Bangladeshis have not welcomed them peacefully, claiming overpopulation and land scarcity as the reason that have forcibly banished about 250,000 between 1991-1992, & almost as many since that time.
Since 1992 Bangladesh has refused to grant the Rohingyas refugee status. Only two official UNHCR camps now remain near Chittagong. Today somewhere around 8,000 refugees live in an unofficial camp called Tal. Another 200,000 have settled in the surrounding area, on a 30-metre-wide stretch of mud along the banks of the Naf River. However, most feel as though life is better there then the daily suffering they endure in Myanmar by the Junta.
Citations
S S Singhan in Madurai, "TN: Land Scarcity Causing Housing Problems for Tsunami Victims" November 7 2005Accessed via
www.rediff.com/news/2005/nov/07tsunami.htmOn June 29, 2008
Sen. Will Espero, "The Faces Of Hawaii’s Homeless" February 13, 2008
Accessed via
www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?2d957daf-39df-4a6c-a539-d2bcf72c77c8On June 29, 2008
James Rogers, "Homelessness, the poor, & local poverty regulation" Accessed via
www.reformed.org/webfiles/antithesis/v1n3/ant_v1n3_homeless.html
On June 29, 2008
The Economist print edition, "Myanmar's Rohingyas, No place like home" November 29, 2007
Accessed via
www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10214763
On July 1, 2008
The first article titled, "TN: Land Scarcity Causing Housing Problems for Tsunami Victims" written by S S Singhan, talked about the land scarcity issues that are taking place in Indonesia due to the 2005 Tsunami. Victims of Tami Nadu, including Nagadattinam, Cuddalore, Kanyakumari & Tuticorin Districts were hit the hardest of the Tsunami victims. Various non-governmental organizations have offered to assist, in the rebuilding of the districts, but land scarcity has become a major issue. Even though the NGO’s have offered to build up to 800 homes, the government has only enough land to occupy 225 homes, in addition to this the Coastal Regulation Act bans construction of any sort 500 ft. from the sea coast. The purchase of private property owned by wealthy land owners is being delayed because the government can’t seize it legally, & the price the government wants to pay is not in accordance with the price the land owners want to sell it for.
In many of the damaged districts all across Indonesia the victims of the Tsunami are being placed in temporary shelters that are not intended to be permanent housing solutions for the survivors, it could take years to negotiate terms & land. The second article entitled, "The Faces of Hawaii’s Homeless" written by Sen. Will Espero, discusses the homeless issue in Hawaii. Veterans make up a staggering 26% of Hawaii’s homeless population. Due to post war mental illnesses, which is the most common illness that contributes & prevents these veterans from establishing a sense of social stability. However another one of the most difficult to find housing is the addicts & those who suffer from non combat mental illnesses, who make up a total of 63% of the total homeless population in Hawaii. "Personal responsibility" programs give temporary housing, but require sobriety without providing the adequate help to prevent these individuals from relapsing. Another element of the homelessness in Hawaii is the ex prisoners. Who require the resources to help them become productive members of society. However majority of the re-offenders commit crimes due to the need of the most basic necessities: food, clothes, housing, $. The remaining population of homeless individuals consists of women, some of whom for their survival stay in abusive relationships to keep a place to lay their heads. 37% of the total women that are homeless are homeless due to lose of their homes in divorces; those who are fleeing sexual violence constitutes 10%; and those that leave their parents house 21.5%.
The third article titled, "Homelessness, the poor, & local poverty regulation" written by James Rogers, was about how property zoning & rent control is a major contributor to homelessness. Local property zoning regulations is the serious contributor to the social problem to homelessness. Figures actually say that 3 million Americans are considered homeless.
The study of zoning laws & rent control indicates the importance to the theory of homelessness. "Mix sixty years of local zoning regulation with one part rent control; add a generous dash of wholesale mental hospital deinstitutionalization, and a severe breakdown in family structures, especially among the poor -- and you have a dandy social tragedy" Tom Main writes, "reforming [cities'] housing policies with an eye to increasing the availability of low-income housing." Benard Seigan said, " zoning appears to lower the price of housing for the rich & raise the housing prices for the poor." Policies like zoning and rent control are prime targets for reform, on top of this notion, the consequences of these regulations & laws don’t actually show their results till years later.
Local zoning boards set minimum lot size requirements for residential developments, & pervent more than 1 family to purchase a home under "single family" restrictions. Rent control also prohibits allocating apartments through the price system, which is now becoming a factor in hotels as well.
The last article titled, "Myanmar's Rohingyas, No place like home" written by The Economist print edition is about the Myanmar’s Rohingyas (Muslim) citizens & how they are waiting to regain their lands which are currently being seized by the Junta. This particular Muslim culture called the Rohingyas has always suffered abuse due to the diversity in cultural differences between them & the Burmese. At this time the Junta are refusing to grant the Rohingyas citizenship, leaving nearly 800,000 Rohingyas stateless. The military regime routinely presses them into slave labor, severely restricts their rights to travel and marry, and denies them access to both medical care and education. In Sittwe, the capital; of Rakhine (formerly Arakan), Rohingyas lead severely poor lives.
Many are mixed with the million of illegal Burmese migrants now residing in Thailand. And the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has documented 12,000 in Malaysia, but says that there possibly may be twice that amount. The largest number has fled to Bangladesh. But the Bangladeshis have not welcomed them peacefully, claiming overpopulation and land scarcity as the reason that have forcibly banished about 250,000 between 1991-1992, & almost as many since that time.
Since 1992 Bangladesh has refused to grant the Rohingyas refugee status. Only two official UNHCR camps now remain near Chittagong. Today somewhere around 8,000 refugees live in an unofficial camp called Tal. Another 200,000 have settled in the surrounding area, on a 30-metre-wide stretch of mud along the banks of the Naf River. However, most feel as though life is better there then the daily suffering they endure in Myanmar by the Junta.
Citations
S S Singhan in Madurai, "TN: Land Scarcity Causing Housing Problems for Tsunami Victims" November 7 2005Accessed via
www.rediff.com/news/2005/nov/07tsunami.htmOn June 29, 2008
Sen. Will Espero, "The Faces Of Hawaii’s Homeless" February 13, 2008
Accessed via
www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?2d957daf-39df-4a6c-a539-d2bcf72c77c8On June 29, 2008
James Rogers, "Homelessness, the poor, & local poverty regulation" Accessed via
www.reformed.org/webfiles/antithesis/v1n3/ant_v1n3_homeless.html
On June 29, 2008
The Economist print edition, "Myanmar's Rohingyas, No place like home" November 29, 2007
Accessed via
www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10214763
On July 1, 2008
posted by Michael Oliver | 6:23 PM
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