Housing in Urban areas

 “I think people need housing. And there's empty buildings; I think people should live in there. If you want to call them squatters, trespassers, hey, I call Wall Street thieves!”

Al Lewis

            Housing is seen as one of the most important aspects of urban living. According to Hall and Barrett, affordability is basically the proportion of household income spent on obtaining housing. In Port-of-Spain, affordability varies depending on the location of the house. The more gated and protected the housing settlements, the greater the affordability of a house. Because of this factor, Hall and Barrett continued to echo the importance of state housing. Areas where affordability is very low, most states provide housing for those located in squatting areas. The picture below shows apartments built within Port-of-Spain in order to help relieve homelessness within the capital city. Even though these apartments are of good gesture by governments as well as the private sector, they are not always of good quality. Is this where you would want to live? There are bars located on the windows and doors as well as many persons sharing one room.

An Apartment building in Downtown Port-of-Spain.

 Hall and Barrett continued stating that the effects of state housing led to the development of large informal housing sectors such as Laventille, East Port-of-Spain and Belmont. There are tall apartment buildings such as the diagram below where many low-income persons are housed.

 

An Apartment building in East Port-of-Spain.

     In a blog post entitled; “Trinidad: a nation of Villains and Heroes, Victims and their Tormentors...” Hannah discusses the effects of violence and crime within an urban environment.  Many people believe that most urban criminals originate from these poor housing facilities. The need for social and personal space, affects persons differently thereby encouraging a breeding ground for illegal activity. This can also be an effect of mixing different cultures and histories together in an already small and ineffective area. To every idea there is an opposite…..

    On the other hand, governments can also encourage gentrification of a specified urban area. This will be further discussed in the next blog.