In this week&rsquo;s edition, we look into alternative solutions for Egypt&rsquo;s slum areas - both those proposed by the government and from other countries.
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<h2 dir="ltr">Alternative Housing: Solving or Deepening the Crisis for Slum Residents?</h2>
Much talk was heard of the government&rsquo;s efforts to solve the problem of slums during the Story of a Nation conference, held recently to highlight the achievements of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi before he announced his candidacy for a third term as president. Sisi and his housing minister&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9SS3oyYkPY">have stated</a> that since Sisi took office in 2014, Egypt has spent EGP85 billion on the alternative housing project, which aims to resettle the residents of unsafe informal areas in decent housing complexes built by the state. Although widely touted by the state, the program is problematic in many respects.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Scope of the informal housing problem in Egypt</h3>
According to the <a href="https://censusinfo.capmas.gov.eg/Metadata-ar-v4.2/index.php/catalog/1104/download/3779">latest data</a> issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) in 2016, informal housing areas account for some 39% of the urban mass in Egypt.&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://api-aps.aucegypt.edu/uploads/tinymce/1699215395imageEd. 46_En 1 (1).png" alt="" width="405" height="345"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://api-aps.aucegypt.edu/uploads/tinymce/1699215458imageEd. 46_En 2 copy.png" alt="" width="405" height="321">These areas began to emerge in the 1970s as successive waves of migrants left the countryside for the city.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://api-aps.aucegypt.edu/uploads/tinymce/1699216773imageEd. 46_En 2.png" alt="" width="405" height="320">
The alternative housing project is part of Egypt&rsquo;s sustainable development strategy, known as Egypt Vision 2030, which aims to make Egypt free of informal settlements by 2030. The government has divided informal areas into two groups: unsafe areas and unplanned areas.
The alternative housing project focuses on the former, which in turn are grouped into four categories according to the degree of risk they pose to their residents. The first group includes areas that pose a threat to human life, such as areas prone to rockslides, floods, or railway accidents. The second group is areas that contain dilapidated housing or housing built from construction waste.
The third group is those areas in which public health is in danger due to the lack of sanitation or clean water or the presence of overhead electrical networks. The fourth and final group includes areas whose residents lack secure tenure.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://api-aps.aucegypt.edu/uploads/tinymce/1699216929imageEd. 46_En 2 copy 2.png" alt="" width="405" height="321">
Since the start of the program, several&nbsp;<a href="https://issuu.com/youm7/docs/_-_2023?fbclid=IwAR3OvDlPMDbk3ClJ1QFtoQigHe3F22s-YLcZyfptN4FZF2Mby_lanhq5uK0">housing projects</a> have been completed for slum dwellers, including Asmarat in Muqattam, Maan in al-Salam neighborhood, Mahrousa, the Maspero Triangle projects in Cairo, October Gardens in Giza, and Bashayer al-Khair in Alexandria. These housing projects have provided about 44,000 alternative housing units.
The government consistently points to Asmarat as a model housing project that demonstrates the success of its alternative housing policy. And, indeed, Asmarat is the largest alternative housing complex in terms of surface area and population, <a href="https://issuu.com/youm7/docs/_-_2023?fbclid=IwAR3OvDlPMDbk3ClJ1QFtoQigHe3F22s-YLcZyfptN4FZF2Mby_lanhq5uK0">providing</a> housing for more than 18,000 families on <a href="https://www.elwatannews.com/news/details/6513192">188 feddans</a> in the Muqattam area. Nevertheless, studies have identified several shortcomings.
<h3 dir="ltr">The Asmarat neighborhood.. Today looks very much like yesterday</h3>
The project commenced in 2014 pursuant to a presidential decree issued by President Sisi, with the aim of providing safe housing for the residents of Manshiyat Nasser, Ezbat Khairallah, and Antar Stables. The first and second phases of the project were completed in 2016 and the third phase in 2020.&nbsp;
The Asmarat neighborhood, like other alternative housing complexes, is an extension of the same policy pursued by the Egyptian government since the era of President Mubarak, who established the Osman housing project in Sixth of October City. That project accommodated large numbers of Duweiqa residents in the aftermath of the 2008 rockslide.&nbsp;
It later became clear, however, that the Osman project inflicted tangible harm on the community, distancing them geographically from the economic and social infrastructure they had enjoyed in their previous homes. At the same time, the government did not provide them with adequate job opportunities close to their new area of residence. The situation prompted many of the new residents to return to the informal areas from which they came and sublet housing there.
The government tried to remedy many of the flaws in the Osman housing project when building Asmarat. For example, a dynamic location for the project <a href="https://journals.ajsrp.com/index.php/jesit/article/view/6301/5996">was chosen</a> in the heart of the city, close to several major roadways, and an integrated administrative body was established specifically for Asmarat to ensure the success of the experiment and maintain the quality of life. Regarding title to the property, the state did not give the residents unconditional ownership of the units, as was the case with the Osman project, but instead granted them a concessionary lease following a usufruct model. Under the terms of the lease, the resident is not entitled to sell or sublet the unit and must pay a monthly rent of EGP300, in addition to electricity and water bills. Despite these measures, some field research has found several flaws in the project.
Although Asmarat is situated in a lively area in the capital, it is still far from the informal areas to which the project caters. It is located some 15 km from Antar Stables and Ezbet Khairallah, and 12 km from Manshiyat Nasser. This geographic distance has raised the cost of transportation for residents who regularly commute to their areas of origin, which constitute an essential social and economic bulwark for them.
In addition, many residents lost their jobs because of their displacement, while the Asmarat project was unable to provide alternative jobs for them. According to <a href="https://journals.ajsrp.com/index.php/jesit/article/view/6301/5996">one study of the project</a>, only 21% of those who lost their jobs were able to find another one. This is largely attributable to the strict rules of the housing project, which bar any economic activity within the housing units, even as the cost of renting shops on the ground floor of the buildings is beyond the residents&rsquo; income levels. Although the majority of residents acknowledge the quality of the housing units, a <a href="https://arabstates.gltn.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Egyptian-slums-and-land-conflict.pdf">UN Habitat survey</a> found that 80% of them wish to return to their original homes in informal areas.
These surveys show that the Asmarat project has exacerbated poverty in these populations due to the high monthly expenses they incur, such as utility bills and the cost of additional transportation, which often exceed the monthly rent. (Residents of informal areas typically do not pay rent.) In fact, most of these shortcomings can be traced back to the state&rsquo;s insistence on dealing with slum dwellers as the targets of development projects rather than partners. One <a href="https://arabstates.gltn.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Egyptian-slums-and-land-conflict.pdf">survey</a> found that more than 80% of the population was dissatisfied with the degree of community participation in the decision-making process before the completion of the project.
<h3 dir="ltr">Recommendations</h3>
Firstly: the government should focus on upgrading informal areas instead of razing them and displacing their inhabitants, which entails the complete isolation of the population from the economic and social infrastructure existing in informal areas. The policy of displacement, removal, and resettlement as a solution to the problem is being rolled back in many developing countries in favor of slum upgrading. Economically speaking, upgrading is less costly for the state and does not exacerbate the plight of the urban poor or slum dwellers.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://api-aps.aucegypt.edu/uploads/tinymce/1699217344imageEd. 46_En 2 copy 3.png" alt="" width="405" height="321">
The community participation of the residents of informal areas is the common denominator shared by all successful experiences. These countries have created effective channels to involve the population in any decisions involving slum development from the beginning, a practice that is still lacking in Egypt.
Secondly: the problem of slums must be approached not only with the goal of providing safe or decent housing, but with the <a href="https://www.tadamun.co/?post_type=voice&amp;p=4184&amp;amp;lang=en&amp;lang=en">comprehensive aim</a> of combating poverty, developing skills, and subsequently creating jobs. The <a href="https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/download-manager-files/The%20Challenge%20of%20Slums%20-%20Global%20Report%20on%20Human%20Settlements%202003.pdf">growth of slums</a> is not only attributable to migration from rural to urban areas, but is also a significant symptom of poverty, income inequality, and declining economic growth.
Thirdly: changes should be introduced to <a href="https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/2020/09/egypt_housing_strategy_arabic.pdf">Egypt&rsquo;s housing strategy</a>, which was released in 2020, in order to achieve greater justice to ensure that more Egyptians have access to adequate housing at affordable prices. Urban researcher <a href="https://marsadomran.info/2019/03/1717/">Yahia Shawkat</a> believes that this strategy should have included an explicit mechanism for controlling real estate prices, whether units for rent or sale, as existing policies continue to encourage the marketization of real estate, pushing more Egyptian families into inadequate housing.
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"Adasa" is a weekly policy digest by Alternative Policy Solutions. "Adasa" provides an analysis of a select number of policy developments and their effect on inclusive development and socioeconomic change.

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