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Abstract
Owner-occupied self-help and self-managed housing has been the norm in colonias—low-income informal settlements along the US–Mexico border—so scholarly treatment of renting in these settlements has been limited. This article adds to the scant literature on this topic and is the first to document the nature of renting in multi-unit rental complexes in colonias. The article explores the characteristics of landlords and their motivations for pursuing landlordism by drawing upon key informant interviews with owners of rental property. The results of 47 surveys conducted with households in multi-unit complexes throughout 18 colonias in Starr County, as well as the results from intensive, conversational case study interviews with selected households, are used to illustrate the precarious and informal nature of renting in colonias and provide a limited portrayal of the housing preferences and needs of renters. The article ends with an evaluation of the policy implications of these findings.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to acknowledge research funding from the Lozano Long Foundation to carry out the fieldwork for this paper. He would also like to extend sincere thanks to Dr Peter M. Ward of the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Department of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin for thorough guidance in both the research and writing phases of the project.
Notes
1 This estimate is drawn from the 2010 Census, Summary File 1.
2 Platting refers to the formal mapping of a subdivision for the purposes of delineating the location and boundaries of individual lots.
3 Despite efforts to regularize title (Ward et al., Citation2004), the continued use of unrecorded contracts for deed and the limited use of wills makes a reversion to informality of particular concern (Ward et al., Citation2012).
4 According to the data provided by the Texas Office of the Attorney General on 20 September 2012, available at https://maps.oag.state.tx.us/colgeog/colgeog_online.html # app = a527&1d99-selectedIndex = 0. Analysis conducted by the author.
5 Most apartment complexes occupied only one lot, although some of the larger structures, or those with multiple detached rental homes, were sometimes located on two to three joined lots.
6 Data reflect 2011 values.
7 These data are nearly identical to those acquired by Ward et al. (Citation2012) on the detached one-unit colonia rental market in Starr County six counties ($339 per month on average). They are considerably lower than in Texas and in Starr County, where median rental costs were $814 and $468, respectively, in 2011 (data are drawn from 2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates).
8 Data are drawn from 2010 US Census Bureau Summary File 1.
9 Data reflect 2011 values. These low incomes illustrate the extreme poverty of many colonia renters, even when compared with renters elsewhere in Starr County and in Texas in general; in Texas, 23 and 32 per cent of renter households earned less than $15 000 and $20 000, respectively, in 2011, compared with 51 and 64 per cent of renters in Starr County, respectively (data are drawn from 2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates).
10 These data square nicely with those presented by Durst (Citation2013) and Ward et al. (Citation2012) and suggest that those interviewed in this study are fairly characteristic of renters elsewhere in colonias.
11 Section 8 vouchers (also known as Housing Choice Vouchers) are a federally funded program that assists low-income, elderly, and disabled residents in finding affordable, safe, and sanitary housing. Voucher recipients are free to choose any housing unit that meets Public Housing Authority quality requirements. Once a dwelling unit is inspected and approved, the landlord is provided with a subsidy on behalf of the resident, who pays the difference.
12 All names have been changed for confidentiality.
13 Being rather large (approximately 1000 or more households) Las Lomas contains two elementary schools, as well as a variety of stores and other locally owned businesses.
14 The landlord was reportedly dependent upon the rental payment as his sole source of income.
15 The Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8) requires that a dwelling be of sufficient quality in order to qualify as a residence for a voucher user. The dwelling had not, however, been inspected prior to leasing by the Martínez family, and had apparently deteriorated significantly by that point.
16 MSRs are those subdivisions developed after the passage of legislation known as Model Subdivision Rules in 2000 that sought to limit the growth of informal settlements along the Texas–Mexico border. In particular, these laws required the installation of water and wastewater services.
17 The exception here is payment-free renting or sharing of the dwelling.
18 IDAs are matched savings accounts that assist low-income participants in building equity, often toward the purchase of a home and toward education expenses. Provided typically by banks, credit unions, and non-profit organizations, participants agree to make regular contributions which are then matched in equal amounts by the lending institution.
19 Indeed, the same has been true nationally as demand for and the production of rental housing have increased as a result of the foreclosure crisis (see Joint Center for Housing Studies, Citation2012).