Squatting in Algeria

In Algeria, the high cost of housing leads to informal settlements, many of which are on squatted land.^[1] Another factor causing squatting has been displacement, since during the Algerian War of 1954 until 1962 up to 2.5 million people were forcibly resettled.^[2] The Directorate for Planning and Construction (DUC) announced in 2007 that there were 3,612 buildings in more than 104 informal settlements across the province of Tizi Ouzou.^[3]

Migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa head to Algeria and settle in informal settlements. Many gather at the southern city of Tamanrasset. Between 2016 and 2019, over 100 squats were destroyed in the neighbourhood of Gaat el Oued alone.^[4]

References

1. Bellal, Tahar (2009). "Housing supply in Algeria: Affordability matters rather than availability" (PDF). Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management. 3 (12): 109–110.
2. Feichtinger, Moritz (January 2017). "'A Great Reformatory': Social Planning and Strategic Resettlement in Late Colonial Kenya and Algeria, 1952–63". Journal of Contemporary History. 52 (1): 45–72. doi:10.1177/0022009415616867. S2CID 159532876.
3. "Algeria: 270 Squatter Families to Be Resettled in Tizi-Ouzou". NAU. 16 December 2011.
4. Farrah, Raouf (2020). "Algeria's Migration Dilemma" (PDF). Global Initiative. p. 17. Retrieved 24 December 2021.

Further reading

• Parks, Robert P. (24 November 2019). "Claiming Bits and Pieces of the State: Squatting and Appropriation of Public Domain in Algeria". Middle East Law and Governance. 11 (2): 103–135. doi:10.1163/18763375-01102002. S2CID 213747236.