HOUSING NEED ASSESSMENT IN THE STATE OF COLIMA, MEXICO by David Cymet-Lerer Ingeniero Arquitecto Escuela Superior de Ingenierfa y Arquitectura, IPN M6xico (1955) Submitted to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of MASTER IN CITY PLANNING at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY September 1982 0 David Cymet Lerer Signature of Author )-Dqpartment of Urban/Studies and Planning 7111 /TSeptemb7 1982 Certi fi ed by/ ,1 /!!:::::7 Thesis Supervisor Accepted by INV Head MCP. 1,Commi ttee MASSACHUSETTS INSI1TUTEE OF TFCHN()LOGY DEC 0 4 1986 L Rotb Room 14-0551 77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 Ph: 617.253.2800 MITLibraies Email: [email protected] Document Services http://libraries.mit.edu/docs DISCLAIMER OF QUALITY Due to the condition of the original material, there are unavoidable flaws in this reproduction. We have made every effort possible to provide you with the best copy available. If you are dissatisfied with this product and find it unusable, please contact Document Services as soon as possible. Thank you. The images contained in this document are of the best quality available. C 0 N T E N T S 1.- INTRODUCTION 3 2.- HOUSING NEEDS AND THEIR ASSESSMENT 16 PRESENT HOUSING NEEDS 17 FUTURE HOUSING NEEDS 32 3.- A CASE STUDY. THE STATE OF COLIMA, MEXICO 41 4.- ASSESSMENT OF PRESENT HOUSING NEEDS IN COLIMA, 73 1980. 5.- ASSESSMENT OF FUTURE HOUSING NEEDS FORM 1980 120 TO 2000. 6.- CONCLUSIONS 137 7.- BIBLIOGRAPHY 158 I N T R 0 D U C T I 0 N Development is not a process that happens naturally by itself. On the contrary, it constitutes a conscious and directed effort of society to attain the goals it has chosen. When engaging in a development-effort a society must make choices and decide its objectives and prtorities, Such a choice reflects the values cherished by that society, A free society must also make choices and establish priorities, although the process by which they are selected and implemented, and the objectives and goals chosen may be very different. Should proper minimal housing conditions for the people be included among the major goals of development? The answer given to this question varies greatly among societies, and is probably among many others th.e best indicator of their values, life philosophy and culture, Let us refer to those societies that emerged from revolutions and engaged in major development efforts and yet excluded housing from their national goals and priorities sacrificing the housing conditions of their people for generations, to advance their heavy industry and military strength. In the case of free societies it can justifiably be argued that such an approach of trading housing needs for other seemingly important goals is not compatible with their 3 fundamental values, and that such. an approach is characte- risti c of total i tarian development stategies. A concern for the housing conditions of the people, now and here, in particular of those that can not afford a decent dwelling is fundamental to the very nature of a free society. For such a society housing is not a product of development but one of its esential conditions. At the national as at the domestic scale, hous ing-needs compete with other needs, and a point of equil ibrium must be found that best comp romises between them. When faced with the need s of foods, shelter, health and education a nation not unlike a family must find out what it can best afford and es tablish its budgetary priorities accordingly but must neve ri'gnore or neglect one on account of the other. In its list of national priorities, housing-needs must occupy its proper place, not as a self-deceiving device of pay ing lip-service to lofty ideals, but as a re al commitment that is to be translated into such. hard facts as the fraction of the GNP devoted to housing, and the numbe r of dwellings and rooms that are built annualy per th.ousand people. A national commitment to improve the ho using conditions of the people, must translate itself into coherent long-range and short-range policies and planning, guiding the housing 4 7 market towards the achievement of clearly defined hQus ing objectives. It is in this context of goals-achievemen t that housing-needs assessment which is the subject of this thesis acquires its full signficance as a distinctive tool for measuring and monitoring the housing situation, in order to be able to ascertain the effectiveness of the policies pursued. An assessment of needs implies a norm that serves as a reference in order to confront what is required with what is available. The norm becomes the yardstick for comparing what ought to be with what is. In the specific case of housing need-asses sment it describes societys total require- ment of shelter as seen from the viewpoint of a minimal housing condition which ought to be reached, independently of the individual households capacity and willingness to pay for it. In this r espect market analysis is different from needs-assessment, as it looks for the proportions of the population that can afford a dwelling at the different prices or rents commerci aly available. As social goals and national objectives are by their very nature outside the realm of the market, market analysis can not fulfill the function of needs-assessment. This is in no way directed towards the dental of market forces as the fundamental factor determini ng housing conditto ns, but simply to make it clear that the market by itself lacks 5 orientation towards goals achievement whereas a society commited to social objetives requires a compass to steer its course. Needs assessment is instrumental in steering societys course towards its chosen goals and objectives. There can be no doubt that at any particular historical moment, housing demand will differ, and very often profoundly, from housing need. What people. can afford is very often far .from what they need. Yet, it is this seemingly uncompromi- sing tension, what impels society to accept challenges, and improve itself. "Where there is a will there is a way" has more meaning at the collective than at the individual scale. If one examines the housing situation in Mexico, or of any other country for that matte-, he wi 1 encounter profound di ver gencies between housing demand and housing need., Ho u- sing researchers like Tomasz Sudra have brought to li ght some very important ones, such as exist in the case of the great number o-f households who in Mexico will choose to live in th e cramped one-room VECINDAD dwellings, known as CUART OS REDONDOS lacking the majori ty of dwelling-conven ien ces i ncluding private bathrooms. They choose these dwel l ings not s imply because they are the onl y ones available o r becau se their rent pri.ce-tag is wit hin their budget, but fundamentally because they have such advantages as central location and excellent communication that allow job mobility and many public services of the highest quality Neverthless 6 these dwellings have been outlawed by building and health codes since 1940, and according to any minimal housing standards they would be considered the worst dwelling type and their households the people in most urgent need of improvement. Sudra has also drawn attention. to the large segments of poor households whose housing demand is directed to the acquisition of ownerhip, even if that means a move to a empty lot in the farthest areas of the urban periphery and a willingness to accept the almost total lack of public transportatio,-utilities and services, for the sake of ownership security. The gap between housing demand and housing need is a very fundamental problem for a society concerned with the welfare of tts disadvantaged citizens, who can not find by market mechanisms an adquate answer to their housing plight, It is this problem how to bridge that gap that specially concernes developing countries. Some have advocated a watering-down of the housing norms, or even their total abandonment, and the acceptance of de-- mand as it is. Against such an approach it has been argued, that legitimate compromises are made with time-tables when goals are too difficult to reach, but not with norms, and that such. a course is simply a self-deceiving device to make things look better. There is some truth to both 7 arguments and it requires utmost care not to become easy prey to the pitfalls on both sides. In any case, there is no advantage, in altogether giving up norms, as they provide guidance towards improvement, and without them society will drift almlessly subject to the ebb and tide of supply and demand. Nevertheless if one considers that norms have to be within reach of societys possibilities, it may turn out to be beneficial to introduce a norm-ladder that would bring nearer need to demand. Thus, it could be advisable to introduce 3 types of housing norms, which would be applied within 3 clearly defined realms: - Emergency Norms - Provisional Norms - Permanent Norms. Instead of applying indiscrimitely the 1940 Building Code to VECINDADES and COLONIAS PROLETARIAS, outlawing the housing-market which creates the accommodations for hundreth~s of thousands of people, the door would be open fQr a guided' evolutionary process, which would improve gradually on these housing types. The emergency and provisional norms- would define carefuly laid-out minimums wh.ich while improving the VECINDADES and similar h.oustng types would not do away with their profitability and low rents.