Post-relocation Residential Dissatisfaction from Informal Settlements in Social Housing: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Abstract

Research in countries of the global south has found high levels of dissatisfaction among people relocated from informal settlements to social housing, even though in the new habitats there are regularly better basic living conditions. Given this apparent contradiction and due to the lack of bibliographic reviews on the matter, the objective is to establish the reasons for the dissatisfaction through a qualitative systematic review of the recent literature on the subject. Following the guide “Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses”, PRISMA, scientific articles published between 2010 and 2021 in the Scopus, Web of Science, Scielo, J-Stage and Doaj databases were identified and examined. For the analysis of the 94 articles chosen, the constant comparative method was used. The results show that the main causes of dissatisfaction are: mobility problems and lack of equipment, public space and commerce; few job opportunities, decreased social relationships, neighborhood conflicts and insecurity; insufficient area, productivity, material quality and comfort of housing; poor management and maintenance and unbearable expenses. These problems are essentially due to the socio-spatial segregation of the new habitats, although they also seem to be significantly related to their housing typology (single-family – multi-family). For many relocated households, such mismatches between the conditions of the new residential environment and their needs and quality standards are more relevant than the improvements achieved there.