Tracking land ownership in self-help homestead subdivisions in the United States: the case of Texas "colonias"

In Texas, there are some 1500 so-called colonias housing an estimated 400,0 00 people mostly in peri-urban areas of the border region with Mexico. At t he outset colonias are unserviced or poorly serviced low-income housing set tlements in which lots have been sold by developers upon which residents pl ace trailers, construct manufactured homes, or engage in self-build. Recent research is beginning to identify similar types of semi-formal homestead s ub-divisions elsewhere in the United States, suggesting that this is a wide spread and growing phenomenon. However, while many such sub-divisions are s old out, the proportion of lots actually occupied varies greatly. with anyw here between 15 acid 80 percent of lots being left vacant. This creates mul tiplex problems fdr effective provision and cost recovery of physical and s ocial infrastructure. as well as for effective formation of social capital necessary for active community participation and mutual aid in local develo pment projects. Sometimes, the land allocation process also has led to conf used occupancy and to conflict about rightful lot ownership. Although recent research has led to a better understanding about the nature of these sub-divisions, it is often difficult to trace the ownership of in dividual lots. This is especially the case with absentee owners. As the fir st step towards data collection about nonowners and about "clouded" land ti tles, this paper identifies and tests the effectiveness of various methods that can be used to trace this "invisible" population. Working in 20 such c olonias in Texas. we show that property tax records offer the most complete and effective method of tracing absentee owners to their current address. The paper also offers suggestions about the possible effectiveness of diffe rent types of survey method to gather data about lot ownership and land mar ket performance in homestead subdivisions. As an example of the application of this methodology, survey data are presented comparing colonia residents with absentee owners. The broader application of the methodology elsewhere in the United States as well as in some less developed county contexts is discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.