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State Tolerance of Illegal Housing in Hong Kong and Calgary Habitat International 34 (2010) 478e484 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Habitat International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/habitatint Tops and bottoms: State tolerance of illegal housing in Hong Kong and Calgary Alina Tanasescu a,1, Ernest Chui Wing-tak b,*, Alan Smart a,2 a Department of Anthropology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. N.W., Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada b Department of Social Work & Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China abstract Keywords: Governmental tolerance of illegality is a common but poorly understood phenomenon. While illegal Illegality housing is well studied in poorer cities, its prevalence and operation in rich cities is much less examined. Toleration A comparative perspective is necessary to uncover the variety of ways in which illegal housing is Squatters tolerated and regulated. This paper compares two different forms of illegal housing in two rich cities with Irregularity very distinct histories: rooftop squatters in Hong Kong and basement suites in Calgary. As well as considering these irregular housing forms at opposite poles of the vertical spectrum, the paper examines the structuring forces emerging from both the top and the bottom of the social structure, and how they interact to produce the persistence of these housing types. Overlapping and conflicting interests of various groups and limits on governmental actions make toleration of illegal housing useful, in part precisely because of its provisional nature. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction in Calgary. While comparing these spatial opposites, the study will simultaneously examine illegal housing from the “top” perspectives Calgary and Hong Kong, both prosperous urban centres, may not of government agents as well as those from the “bottom,” including be obvious places for illegal housing. Illegal housing evokes images occupants, landlords, and communities. Neither housing form is the of Third World squatter settlements and slums lacking basic only version of illegal housing in the respective city, and not all infrastructure, plagued by poverty and health disparities. However, basement suites are illegal. Rather than comparing them because as all cities compete for investment and skilled labour, their resi- they are precisely comparable forms of illegal housing, the concern dents share unequal access to resources, including housing, and here is to use the comparison as an opportunity to move forward informal responses to their problems. While the struggle for shelter understanding of the process and consequences of state toleration of of developing nations’ urban dwellers has been documented illegal housing. extensively, illegal housing in rich nations has been less studied, A considerable body of literature examines illegal housing in particularly from a comparative approach. poorer nations (Aldrich & Sandhu, 1995; Davis, 2006; Fernandes & Analysis of illegal housing in rich cities provides insights into Varley, 1998; Kumar, 1996; Roy, 2005; Smart, 2001, 2006a, 2006b; processes that give rise to illegal housing. Illegal housing is often Varley, 1998). Studies on housing in developed nations have tolerated, a situation that can only be understood by examining the focussed on the role of the state and policy responses to housing interactions between the state and illegal housing operators, affordability issues (Glasser & Bridgman, 1999; Lyon-Callo, 2004; tenants, and communities. To this end, this paper will explore two Mahler, 1995; Susser, 1996; thomas-houston & Schuller, 2006; examples of illegal housing in Hong Kong and Calgary. The focus in Waterson, 1998). Illegal housing is most often considered as Hong Kong’s case will be on rooftop housing and on basement suites3 “hidden homelessness,” which is admittedly little understood, or systematically studied, though acknowledged as a critical research priority and gap (Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, 2008; Calgary Homeless Foundation, 2009; National Alliance to * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ852 2859 2092; fax: þ852 2858 7604. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A. Tanasescu), [email protected] End Homelessness, 2007). This tendency to examine illegal (E.C. Wing-tak), [email protected] (A. Smart). housing in developing and developed nations separately and with 1 Tel.: þ1 403 585 9707; fax: þ1 403 284 5467. distinct approaches has impeded our capacity for comparative and 2 Tel.: þ1 403 220 6707; fax: þ1 403 284 5467. more holistic understandings of the processes that give rise to 3 Basement suites are a form of “secondary suites” defined as a dwelling which housing illegality. Even in books where a comparative approach is exist in addition to a principal residence, which can include garden suites, attic suites, etc., but also basement suites when developed below the principal dwelling promoted, case studies are usually presented separately despite the unit. recognition of the “many points of contact and commonality 0197-3975/$ e see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.habitatint.2010.02.004 A. Tanasescu et al. / Habitat International 34 (2010) 478e484 479 between housing debates in Western and Eastern societies” By contrast, Hong Kong is renowned for its achievements as the (Forrest, 2003: 3). world’s largest public rental housing provider of subsidized rental This comparison of state toleration of illegality in the prosperous housing to some 30% of its population and another 15% housed in cities of Calgary and Hong Kong raises new questions about the government for-sale flats (HKSARG Census and Statistics sector’s emergence and persistence. Calgary as the “motor” of Department, 2007). However, due to the fact that the government Canada’s economy during the recent oil and gas boom might seem is not able to meet the demand for public rental housing, it has an unlikely city for illegal housing. One might also expect Hong stringent eligibility criteria, including a 7-year residency require- Kong’s prosperity to have erased the vestiges of its “peripheral” ment and a means-test. As a result, those who are not yet eligible colonial past, including illegal housing like squatting (Smart, 2006a, for public rental housing, and who are unable to afford better 2006b). Nevertheless, illegal housing persists in both citiesemore, private accommodation, rely on other options, rooftop dwellings it seems to be tolerated by the state. To examine this, this paper being one alternative. focuses on two manifestations of illegal housing: basement suites In both cities, demand for affordable housing remains critical for in Calgary and rooftop dwellings in Hong Kong (though in both lower income residents. While both cities’ prosperous economies cities, other illegal forms are also prevalent). In Calgary, the rely on and continuously draw newcomers, market housing and municipal government estimates that there are approximately social housing do not meet demand. Given pressure on lower 18,000 basement suites, likely illegal, while in Hong Kong, more income households, many turn to cheaper, sometimes illegal, than 1700 households own or rent rooftop dwellings. options. The study begins by outlining the economic and political contexts, explaining why the housing forms are considered illegal, Manifestations of illegal housing how they arose and how they operate. It highlights the ways in which illegality is contested, reinforced, and even ignored by the In Calgary’s case, basement suites are the most common form of various state, operator, occupant, and community actors involved in illegal housing, though not always illegal. They are developed in toleration. single family homes or duplexes. Owners build an additional self- contained housing unit that often includes cooking and bathroom facilities, and may have a separate entrance. The unit is usually The Calgary and Hong Kong housing contexts rented out by the owner who may live upstairs. Affordability challenges lead some owners to live in the basement to rent out the Calgary and Hong Kong have experienced economic prosperity, main floor. Some small-scale landlords rent out both the upstairs migration-driven population growth, and accompanying housing and downstairs to maximize rental income. pressures. Both also have increasing gaps between rich and poor, Rooftop dwellings are one of the various types of ‘poor’ or leading to deprivation in the form of growing absolute and relative ‘inadequate’ housing in Hong Kong (Business and Professionals homelessness. Housing cost pressures have led to the development Federation of Hong Kong, 2007). Rooftop dwellings are built on of informal accommodations. the roof of buildings without formal approval by the government In Hong Kong, the most visible illegal housing were the squatter authority. Built by people who either intend to live in them or to sell settlements which occupied hillsides and the urban fringe until or rent them out, some are constructed with concrete and brick, public housing and redevelopment of these areas occurred wood, metal sheets and other flimsy materials. The earning between the 1950s and 1990s, peaking at 800,000 people in 1981. potential of maximizing under-utilized space is a key motivator for Rooftop squatters are less visible but persist. In Calgary, the number Hong Kong landlords of apartment dwellings where rooftop of absolute homeless people increased by 18% from 2006 to 2008, housing is created. Many rooftop dwellings were developed on bringing
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