CHAPTER ONE

                                       GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Research Context

As urbanization in the developing world accelerates, insecurity and housing crises begins to accelerates or increase. Urban insecurities are mainly a result of increasing crime and violence which is triggered by a number of socio-economic and political challenges .The result is evident through creation of unsafe human settlements, anxiety and fear among the urban inhabitants. (Whynne-Hammond, 1985). As urbanization in the developing world accelerates, the poorest city dwellers will face a shortage of housing options leading to housing crises. Housing embodies not just the structure but also the essential amenities needed to improve living conditions in an environment, which is free from diseases and other natural disasters. Generally, housing crises may occur anywhere affordable housing becomes extremely scarce. Sometimes the term housing crises refers to the opposite problem of a housing bubble, wherein house prices fall drastically and demand is low. Currently, some 330 million urban household can’t access affordable and secure accommodations which leads to insecurity in urban areas. These gaps in affordable housing are forecast to grow by more than 30% to 1.6 billion people by 2025, according to the consulting firm. Access to a decent house is a fundamental human right for every individual. It is the place where the family gets its roots and where the attitudes and the customs in the society are originated. Decent and affordable house is the foundation of the family stability and create a living and positive environment to educate children and provide the family with urban security in Cameroon (Fletcher 2005).

Urban insecurity and housing crises are some of the issues targeted under the sustainable development goals. The sustainable development goals or global Gail’s are a collection of seventeen interlinked objectives designed to serve as a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and in to the future. The 17 sustainable development goals which includes 169 targets adopted by world leaders in September 2015 set out a vision for a world free of poverty and inequality, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy health, justice, and prosperity. It is critical that no one is left behind. The study of this nature will significantly impact the attainment of some of the sustainable development goals, for example

Goal 1 calls for an end to poverty in all it manifestation by 2030. It also aims to ensure social protection for the poor and vulnerable, increase access to basic services and support people harm by climate related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disaster.

Goal 2 aims to achieve zero hunger, the official wording is “End Hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”.

Goal 6 ensure access to water and sanitation for all. Access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene is the most basic human need for health and well-being. Billions of people will lack access to these basic services in 2030 unless progress quadruples.

Goal 11 which is sustainable cities and communities. It is the main sustainable development goal under the study here and is aim to make cities and human settlement inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

The housing equation has been a priority of the government even before the independent of the country in 1960, as in 1952, the Cameroon Real Estate Corporation (Societe Immobiliere du Cameroon, SIC) was founded. Since then several initiatives have been implemented to respond to the acute need of housing and urban security by the population, especially Douala, Yaoundé, and Bamenda. Yet in the last decades, high demographic growth and urban insecurities coupled with rapid urbanization, low revenue of the majority of households, quasi-inexistent access to a mortgage market are some of the reasons that have led to the proliferation of informal settlements in the cities of Douala, Yaoundé and Bamenda. The national institute of statistics (NIS) estimate that 47% of the population of Douala and Yaoundé live in informal settlements (NIS, 2022).more over it is estimated that the annual housing deficit in 2013 was at 100000 units (Centre for affordable housing in Africa, 2014).The main aim of this study is to bring out the urban insecurities and housing crises in Bamenda lll municipality, North West Region of Cameroon (National institute of statistic NIC of Cameroon 2016).

The city of Bamenda, capital of the North West Region of Cameroon benefits from the examples of the other regional capitals of Cameroon, a city council. The city of Bamenda is created by decree number 2008/021 of January 17, 2008 and whose seat is in Mankon. It quality as the heard quarter of the North West region and the seat of the Mezam division, indisputably confers to it the position of an administrative unit and the dominant commercial hub if the region. The Bamenda city is made up of the following councils (Bamenda city council 2016).

-The Bamenda l council whose seat is at Bamenda Nkwen.

-The Bamenda ll council whose seat is at Mankon.

-The Bamenda lll council whose seat is at Nkwen.

There is a growing interest in the need to study and understand the urban insecurities and housing crises in Bamenda lll municipality North West region of Cameroon.The recognition that housing crises and urban insecurity are matters of primary concern for urban households, especially low-income and vulnerable groups, is grounded in the lived experiences and perceptions of these people. Urbanization which refers to an increase in the proportion of national or regional population living in the cities (Nyambod 2010). Urbanization and can be because of natural increase, and rural-urban migration. This natural increase and rural-urban migration brings in a lot of population in the city area of Bamenda lll.Urbanization causes urban growth, increase in Urban population, high crime wave, the destruction if peri-urban land and consequently urban insecurity and housing crises in Bamenda lll. The rapid rate of urban growth in Bamenda 3 has resulted to deficiency in the quantity of houses. Urbanization and urban growth are accompanied by many socio-economic and environmental consequences such as biodiversity degradation, loss of prime agricultural lands, traffic congestion, and high rate of unemployment, urban insecurities, and housing problem among others (Geyer 2011).

In conflict-affected states like Cameroon, insecurity also involves the resolution of conflicts and armed insurgencies which have taken to the streets of the villages of North West and south west of Cameroon resulting in the forced displacement and integration of internally displaced people (IDPs) in to urban areas. The crises in the Northwest and Southwest region of Cameroon especially in the village of these 2 regions which has led to internally displaced person (IDPs), has caused serious housing crises in Bamenda lll. This is because of the people living from the villages around Bamenda to the city or rural-urban migration due to the Crises. This leads to over population, increase in the prices of goods and services, high crime wave increase in the prices of residence and consequently urban insecurity and housing crises in Bamenda lll (Bang and Balgah 2022).

For residents or household to feel secure, they need to have their lived experiences and perceptions included at the heart of approaches addressing the challenge of urban security. Such approaches would be designed to tackle the problems that underpin different impacts of violence and household insecurities rather than treating its symptoms. When residents or household experience insecurity and see themselves at risk of both structural and interpersonal violence, the normalization of violence can increase the gap between citizen and state, as well as between citizens. These interdependent relationships are often complex because the same context can be secure or insecure, depending on the time of day or the identity of the individual, including their affiliations or connections (UN Habitat 2018).

Violence in Bamenda Nkwen undermines economic growth, deepens mistrust of security and justice institutions, and frequently leads to the emergence of non-state organizations that enforce forms of “street justice”. Distrust of the state grows when security forces are heavy-handed, and this can lead to a breakdown in the ability of public institutions to maintain order.  Young people are often the target of harsh policing, and there is also a widespread lack of facilities for juvenile justice (Bamenda city council 2016).

Urban insecurity, housing crises vulnerability have impacts at the individual, household and neighborhood levels in Bamenda lll. Perceived and real threats of violence in various forms, for example, exposure to crime or the threat of political or ethnic militias, can limit mobility – particularly for women and girls, and various ethnic groups – with knock-on impacts on education, livelihoods and general wellbeing. Levels of insecurity, housing and vulnerability are influenced by the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of residents, the physical conditions of urban areas and the existence of governance gaps in the city.

Marginalization of informal settlements, housing Safety and security can be maintained and promoted by both state and non-state actors. However, security may be absent in part because of the social, spatial and political marginalization of a city’s informal settlements. In many cases, this marginalization has led to “local government voids”, which further contribute to a crisis of governance, trust and inclusion. Such voids emerge when different forms of everyday insecurity come together: basic services, police protection and political attention disappear or require bribes or favors in Bamenda Nkwen (Santoro 2019)

When these voids exist for long enough, other power holders or power seekers will step in opportunistically. “Hybrid governance” arrangements evolve, where certain areas of a city are governed by various informal community organizations, clan-based militias, gangs or other manifestations of non-state power holders. Elsewhere, household or residents may rely on private security to protect life and property, or create community-based mechanisms for policing and justice. Different forms of “co-production” can evolve, some based on coalitions of private and public security services, and others based on instances where political actors are connected to or negotiate with cartels that control basic services.

At a city-wide level, urban areas that are perceived to have particularly high levels of interpersonal violence and/or are considered to have significant problems with militias, gangs and organized crime, may be unattractive to international business and investment. There can also be stigma attached to residents or houses of such areas, which can generate insecurity for them outside of their own neighborhood. Local enterprises may be hampered by threats and extortion. Charges for rental units, water and electricity may all be extracted by threats of violence. Where informal community organizations or criminal networks are involved in service provision (such as transport, water, electricity), local authorities suffer loss of revenue and may struggle to improve access to or restore basic services (Toulmin 2008).

 Experience of and levels of housing safety and urban security or of violence, are strongly correlated with livelihoods, gender and ethnicity. Violence may be used by city actors (including elected officials) to achieve political or narrowly constructed “development” goals, for example through “slum” clearances that are often accompanied by brutality and wanton destruction. Policing that aims to reduce crime in middle- to high-income neighborhoods in Nkwen may involve violating the rights of those living in low-income settlements, including through harshly enforced and inequitable curfews and extra-judicial executions (Alleu et al., 2019).

Houses constructed of temporary materials that do not adequately protect occupants or property from the elements or from physical threats. Insecurity of tenure, which may increase the risk of eviction. Displacement, where populations have arrived from rural areas around Bamenda due to crises in the region, climate change, lack of livelihoods and access to land. Weak governance and lack of voice for low-income and disadvantaged people. Highly unequal access to services, with inadequate levels of service provision in low-income neighborhoods in Bamenda lll.

Violence may contribute further to the lack of access to services, and to further weakening social cohesion and trust. Many low-income people live at a physical and social distance from formal NGOs or government agencies. Thus, when they face pressures from different forms of violence, hindering access to good houses, schools and livelihoods, they may lack formal systems of support. They may also mistrust the response of duty bearers such as police, judicial and other state actors. In addition, gender-related violence includes not only household violence but threats that prevent access to sanitation and water services. For young people, the key elements of the transition to adulthood are often truncated by the experience of or exposure to violence (Parks 2014).

Considering Bamenda lll (Nkwen), the security domain will consider different forms of “everyday insecurity”, along spatial and temporal lines, as well as how the same urban area can contain spaces that are relatively secure and those that are highly insecure. The domain will take a “street politics” approach, reflecting urban residents’ lived experiences and perceptions of insecurity and different sources of violence. The domain will seek to move away from discourses of urban security and housing crises as control, to an understanding of security according to the experience of city residents.  It will contribute towards an exploration of measures that reduce the prevalence of violence, and attempt to address the lived perceptions and fear of violence and housing instability.

 1.4 Statement of the research problem 

The proportion of people living in cities in all regions is rising. Growth in population is widely recognized as one of the clear cut drawing forces behind all forms of urban insecurity activities in urban areas. This is because people commit crime with the belief that such activities will go unnoticed in the midst of the cosmopolitan population which is the characteristic of urban areas. The rising needs of ever increasing population in cities in Cameroon have accelerated the magnitude of housing problems.   

Housing crises and urban insecurity which has become a common phenomenon in city areas. This cities including Bamenda IIl thus pose a challenge to those concerned with the exploitation of the urban space for socio economic activities. Some of these acts go unnoticed because the intricate factors responsible for their occurrence are poorly understood by the judiciary and the police. Within Bamenda there are seemingly special variations in urban insecurity with some neighborhood than others. Bamenda lII municipality has seen the progressive increase in urban insecurity and housing crises as a result of rapid growth and unplanned urbanization that took off since the early 80s. Low quality housing, high cost of houses increase in urban population amongst others is on an increase. There is thus an increase need for security control and plans that can merge the test of time in a short, medium and long term for present day Bamenda. At the same time the economic implication of urban insecurity should be recognized and addressed in an integrated fashion by all areas in the country with high priority being given to the urban poor, the unemployed and the growing number of people without any form of income.

1.5 Research Questions

The main research question for the study is:

How does insecurity and housing crises affect families and children in Bamenda IIl.

It is guided by the following specific questions:

1. What factors contribute to the successful urban security and housing safety in Bamenda ll
2. What is the relationship between urban insecurity and housing crises in Bamenda lll.
3. What factors have contributed to urban insecurities and housing problems in Bamenda lll.

1.6 Research objectives

The main research objective for the study is:

To determine THE EFFECT OF INSECURITY AND HOUSING CRISES TO FAMILIES

 LIVING IN BAMENDA 111.

 It is guided by the following specific objectives:

1. To bring out the factors that contribute to successful urban security and housing safety in Bamenda lll.
2. To assess the relationship between urban insecurities and housing crises in Bamenda lll
3. To assess the factors that have contributed to urban insecurities and housing crises in Bamenda lll.