In 2014, there were some 3.5 million informal buildings (i.e. constructed without building permits) in South-Eastern Europe, including approximately 2,500,000 in Greece; 500,000 in Albania; 350,000 in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; and 130,000 in Montenegro.
In spite of the initiatives taken in recent years in many countries to implement formalization measures, greater efforts to legalise informal settlements and prevent future illegal construction are needed in the region. These are the main findings of the study Formalizing the Informal: Challenges and Opportunities from South-East Europe, presented at the UNECE workshop “The challenges of Informal Settlements”, on 25 February.
The study focuses on five South-East European countries – Albania, Cyprus, Greece, Montenegro and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia – looking at the impact of informal development and recent urban policies. These include: privatizing occupied state-owned land and defining compensation for occupied, privately-owned land; revising zoning and planning procedures, regulations and standards; regularizing and upgrading informal settlements; applying controls and upgrading individual constructions.
The study provides policy guidelines and recommendations to address informal development, and contains lessons learned and best practices that can be applied throughout the UNECE region.
It recommends a range of actions to address informal settlements, including: simplified processes for housing and construction permits; strengthened private property rights; the effective implementation of legalization measures for all kinds of properties; major public involvement in the legalization process; and the enforcement of clear formalization laws that are designed in order to protect the environment, encourage secure tenure and promote economic growth. Such actions are a key to enabling countries to take full advantage of the economic benefits that come from a well-functioning real estate market with wide-spread participation across different sectors of the population.
The study is a joint effort by the Bureau of the UNECE Working Party on Land Administration and the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) Task Force on Property and Housing. It builds on the conclusions of the 2009 UNECE publication Self-made Cities: In Search of Sustainable Solutions for Informal Settlements in the UNECE Region.
The publication version can be found online.
Note to editors
Over the last 25 years, informal settlements have become an increasingly important and urgent issue in the UNECE region. This dates back to the early 1990s as a result of the political and economic changes in Eastern Europe and former-Soviet countries coupled with rapid urbanization and uncontrolled, massive internal migration due to poverty, conflicts, marginalization and natural disasters. The impact of these developments was compounded by the frequent lack of effective policies on social and affordable housing.