Land tenure and property rights issues in Haiti are becoming increasingly critical as the country recovers from the devastating January 12, 2010, earthquake. The disaster has resulted in an estimated 200,000 deaths in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area and neighboring zones, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. The government has announced plans to relocate 400,000 people to camps outside the city, which may lead to conflicts over land.
The earthquake has created an unprecedented opportunity to relocate urban populations away from risk-prone areas like fault lines and flood plains in the metropolitan area. This process is already underway as the government and disaster response agencies clear land in the area of Croix des Bouquets for tent cities. These tent cities are likely to evolve into long-term housing arrangements for poor families, creating opportunities for the assertion of zoned control over lowland flood plains along the coastal littoral and the Cul de Sac plains.
A special focus of interest should be the fragile slopes of Morne l’Hôpital and peri-urban areas along the east-west ridge from Pétionville through Port-au-Prince and Carrefour. The steeply sloped Morne l’Hôpital benefits from its special legal status as a “public utility,” a protected area off limits to construction due to the high risk of erosion and its importance as a source of spring-fed water for CAMEP, the public water utility of Port-au-Prince. Legally, all construction on the slopes of Morne l’Hôpital is illegal in the absence of a formal waiver of building restrictions.
Haiti lacks an effective national cadastre and a comprehensive, functional system for recording land ownership. Prior to the earthquake, customary arrangements and knowledge characterized the tenure of Haiti, with only 40% of landowners possessing documentation such as a legal title or transaction receipt. Registration was more common in Port-au-Prince and other rural areas. The Direction Generale des Impôts (DGI) has been responsible for maintaining and updating registration records, but the veracity and accuracy of land records are suspect, and there is widespread distrust of government institutions.
The post-earthquake recovery period provides an unprecedented opportunity to assert control over Morne l’Hôpital as a legally protected zone and prevent new housing construction on fragile slopes essential to flood control and the metropolitan water supply. Coordinated, long-term recovery and rebuilding will require planning and land use zoning, including adequate systems of building codes, urban planning, and enforcement mechanisms for land-use and construction standards. Long-term resettlement may entail expropriation of land by government, which will require due process, public education, and extensive consultation to ensure that people know their rights and are informed of actions that could affect their claims and use of lands.
Zoning and the property census undertaken by local governments, property tax collection, and the issue of construction permits are legal points of entry for post-earthquake assessments, urban planning, and rebuilding. Property tax rolls and construction permits are high-value databases that should be rapidly identified, inventoried, and immediately protected. Early assessment should also identify and inventory the condition of notary data, including the number of notaries in affected areas, their current location, and the availability of their data. Municipal administrations also manage state lands leased to private citizens within municipal jurisdictions, although the central government DGI tax office retains overall authority for such leaseholds.