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What
Are Colonias and Who Lives in Them?
Even
though colonias have gained much attention in the last several years, most
people do not realize the extent of the problem along the Texas-Mexico border.
Most people are unaware that colonias have existed for many decades. Colonias
are generally understood to be subdivisions in unincorporated areas with
inadequate infrastructure and inhabited by residents with very low incomes. They
are defined by the absence of one or more of the following facilities: paved
streets, numbered street addresses, sidewalks, storm drainage, sewers,
electricity, potable water, or telephone services.
Some colonias have been annexed by cities. In 1995, the Texas Water
Development Board estimated that over 340,000 Texas residents lived in 1,436
colonias. Over 75 percent of all Texas colonia residents live in Hidalgo,
Cameron, Webb, Starr, and El Paso counties.
Most
colonia residents are U.S. citizens. They tend to be predominantly Hispanic,
young and unskilled. Generally, the level of education of colonia residents is
low and illiteracy is high. The primary language is Spanish, which often impedes
access to programs and the understanding of policies, procedures, and legal
documents. An estimated 43 percent of all colonia residents live in poverty. A
family of four was considered, in the 1990 Census, to be below the poverty level
if its income was $12,675 or less. That figure would include an estimated
146,200 colonia residents.
Water
and Health Problems in the Colonias
Colonia
residents often face serious water and health problems. Results of the 1990
census show an alarming situation regarding water infrastructure. While 85
percent of colonia households own their own home, 23 percent report no treated
water within the house. A 1990 General Accounting Office (GAO) study found that
out of 842 colonias identified in the six Texas counties studied (Cameron, El
Paso, Hidalgo, Starr, Webb, and Willacy), 503 colonias had access to water
systems while only three had access to sewer systems. The use of untreated water
for drinking, washing, bathing, and cooking ranged from 4 percent to 13 percent
of households. The 1990 Census indicates that approximately 50 percent of
colonia houses in rural counties and 20 percent of houses in urban counties
(i.e., Cameron. El Paso, Hidalgo, Webb) have incomplete plumbing facilities.
Furthermore, 40 percent of colonia households in rural and 15 percent in urban
counties lacked complete kitchen facilities.
Fifty percent of colonia households had a septic tank and 36 percent used
cesspools (septic tank usage was high in the Rio Grande Valley and cesspool use
was high in El Paso).
As
one might expect given these living conditions, the health profile of colonias
residents is quite poor. In 1988, the Texas Department of Health conducted a
health needs assessment of colonia residents in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and
El Paso County. Sixty-five percent of the colonia residents had no health
insurance. On the whole, colonia residents have a higher incidence of disease.
The rate of tuberculosis was 3.9 percent and the rate of hepatitis was 6.2
percent. Other health problems included high rates of gastro-enteritis, skin
disease, and other water related problems.
Many
attribute this to poor access to health care, unsanitary living conditions, and
environmental hazards. Many colonia communities report cases in which a majority
of the children have health problems ranging from asthma to dysentery as a
direct relation to environmental hazards. Salmonellosis, shigellosis, ambebiasis,
hepatitis A and B, tuberculosis, measles, rubella, whooping cough, tetanus,
diphtheria, polio, Hemophilus influenza type B, influenza, and cholera are all
threats along the border because of living conditions, disease incidence and
lack of immunizations. Many of these diseases have appeared along the border
because of poor drainage problems. Flooding is a problem in about half of the
colonias. The Rio Grande Valley water table is quite low, rising from 15 to 20
feet above sea level in Brownsville to 100 to 125 feet above sea level in
McAllen. In addition, ground water is near the surface, 3 to 4 feet below the
surface in much of the area, creating the conditions for frequent flooding and
poor drainage. This poor drainage decreases the effectiveness of outhouses and
septic tanks. Water
used for bathing, washing, and even drinking may be drawn from drainage ditches
that collect sewage and agricultural chemicals from adjacent fields. The effects
of such high rates of disease are only amplified by the widespread poverty of
the area. Usually it is the responsibility of local governments to solve public
health or sanitation problems. In rare instances when local entities do not have
the resources or are unable to attain a solution, other units of government
usually assist. Efforts at the state level, however, have begun only in the last
few years.
The
lack of affordable housing along the border is the primary reason for the
proliferation of colonias. Although the price of land within border cities may
not be much higher than in rural areas, the purchase of land within a city
generally requires the use of traditional financing for which a low-income
person may not qualify. Father Ed
Roden, long time pastor of La Purisima Catholic Church in Socorro, Texas,
testified before the subcommittee of Water Resources of the House Committee on
Public Works and Transportation:
The people in
colonias came looking for the American Dream: to own a piece of land and build a
home and future for their families. In most cases, they have done this because
El Paso has only a one percent housing vacancy for low income people. The El
Paso Housing Authority has frozen its waiting list for families. And so, people
came to the Valley and bought half-acre lots for $10,000 on a contract for sale.
This is affordable for our families that earn $7,000 to $10,000 per year. They
bought this land trusting what turned out to be greedy, dishonest developers who
promised water and other services in the near future. So, the problem is not
just one of convenience, it is a matter of disease and an insult to human
dignity.
Father
Roden's testimony touches on some of the most fundamental reasons colonias
exist: population growth along the border, housing affordability and land sale
practices, and land development regulation. For this reason, individuals
searching for affordable housing alternatives have turned to rural land
"developers" who offer financing to them through what is referred to
as a "contract-for-sale."
Under
a contract-for-sale, the purchaser typically enters into a contract to buy a
small residential lot at a low down payment and a low monthly payment. The lots
are usually small. Many are as small as 60 feet by 100 feet in size and sell
anywhere from $3,000 to $12,000. In contrast, lots within the corporate limits
of border cities cost much more. Lots within the cities of Laredo and El Paso
start at $10,000 and often exceed $20,000. The trade-off is that the purchaser
does not obtain the deed of ownership of the property until the contract has
been paid in full. In addition, finance rates for contracts for sale are often
as high as 12 to 14 percent. Under this type of arrangement, a late payment may
be subject to exorbitant penalties and may be grounds for foreclosure on the
property. Developers have often entered into contracts to sell land with only
the promise of basic infrastructure such as paved roads and access to water and
sewer. In many colonias, these
services were never provided, leading to the poor condition of infrastructure in
many colonias today.
Another
advantage to buying land in a rural subdivision is that building structures are
not subject to municipal building codes. The
lack of general knowledge pertaining to building codes has caused many colonia
residents to put their life savings into a house not built to code. Because most
financial institutions will not loan money on a house not built to code, this
mistake usually blocks them from having the opportunity to secure a mortgage on
their home. Unfortunately, this prevents many from ever moving up into a better
home. Financial institutions have also been reluctant to finance housing in
colonia areas because of the uncertainty in actual ownership of property. The
traditional method of home finance, payments due on a monthly basis, may not be
feasible for colonia residents, many of whom are migrant farm workers with
seasonal employment. Colonia residents must often pay for the construction of
their home on a cash basis. For this reason, many residents are only able to
finance the construction of their home on a piecemeal basis, often not making
provisions for electrical connections, indoor plumbing, or heating. In addition,
some residents may live in a partially-constructed home until construction has
been completed.
In
Texas, limitations on county authority over land development is another factor
that has contributed to the development of colonias. One of the main reasons
that land in rural subdivisions is more affordable is that it is not subject to
municipal regulation and does not have access to municipal services. Although
counties possess some authority to regulate the development of land in rural
areas, this authority, until recently, has been limited to the establishment of
minimum road and drainage requirements. The limitations on county authority have
allowed for the legal development of rural subdivisions without water and sewer
services.
This
lack of county authority has other repercussions as well. Frequently, the
funding that is available for low income housing must be applied for by some
entity, usually a local government. However, there is no city government for
colonias in unincorporated areas, and the county is often too weak to do so.
Until recently, colonias had no recourse unless some other entity was able to
apply for the funds or the colonia was annexed by a city. Cities often are
reluctant to annex colonias because in doing so, they must extend basic services
to the annexed area. The high rate of poverty among colonia residents usually
indicates that the tax base to be gained by a city would not sufficiently offset
the costs of annexing the colonia. Thus again colonias are usually left in
limbo.
Loopholes
in the laws governing land sales also facilitated the development of colonias.
Because land sales occur independent of the land development process, it is
possible for land to be sold in a subdivision that has not been approved by the
county. Even though the subdivision of land is illegal, the sale of land is not
(i.e., the person purchasing the land holds a legal claim to the land). Because
these illegal subdivisions were not approved by the county, they may not meet
minimum subdivision requirements. Such a lot, for example, may be too small to
permit the installation of a septic tank.[1]
Recent
Progress on Colonia Improvements through EDAP
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