Attachments
Rapidly growing urban municipalities in Somalia have been grappling with how to respond to the over 2 million IDPs1 currently living in their cities, many of who arrived years or even decades ago.2 With some 80 per cent of IDPs preferring local integration,3 Somalia’s urban municipalities share the common challenge of generating the necessary resources to finance housing construction and public services, which can run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, that would enable all IDPs to find a durable solution, not just a select few.
In 2019, the United Nations Integrated Office of the SRSG/RC/HC commissioned the report “Towards Sustainable Urban Development in Somalia and IDP Durable Solutions at Scale.”4 In particular, the report presents options for how Somalia’s urban municipalities could, with the support of the international community, utilize “land value sharing tools,” in long-term urban development processes to maximize urban land use, provide stronger tenancy rights for IDPs, and generate revenue to finance durable solutions for IDPs. Land-value sharing tools5 are based on the premise that the wider community, not just individual owners, should benefit when public investments, such as road construction and sewage systems, increase property values.6
For instance, examining its unique economic, political and geographic context, the report explores how Bossaso could leverage land value sharing options to work toward finding durable solutions for the city’s some 130,000 IDPs.7 One possibility includes negotiating a land sharing agreement with a major private landowner, whereby the municipality would receive a portion of land in exchange for providing basic services and building roads to the landowner’s property. Using this method and swapping municipal land with other private landowners to consolidate larger redevelopment zones, Bassaso could then explore how to generate additional revenue for durable solutions and more secure land tenure for IDPs. Land title models provide other opportunities.8 For example, IDPs who have been living, working and renting housing in Bassaso for many years could buy a plot of land from the municipality. Once they have the land title, the IDPs could then sell-off half of the property to finance the construction of their own house. The land transfer would be part of broader development plan for the zone that includes schools, health centres and roads, supported by international development investments, that contribute to increasing the overall value of the land.
The various proposals presented in the report will take years to materialize, demanding strengthened land management and urban governance, as well as analysis to assess conflict dynamics, land and housing markets, and diverse stakeholders.9 Such approaches also need to be complemented by more comprehensive urban and land management efforts, which presently vary among the regions in Somalia.10 Some local governments are in the process of registering properties, issuing land titles, and allocating settlement sites for IDPs and communities at risk of evictions as part of broader site upgrading plans. Such comprehensive, long-term planning efforts will be essential for urban planning and development efforts that simultaneously address current and urgent humanitarian needs, while also maintaining a long-term vision for achieving durable solutions.11