The impacts of slum policies on households' welfare : the case of Medellin (Colombia) and Mumbai (India).

Summary Illegal settlement policies play a central role in local and national poverty reduction efforts. as poverty increasingly becomes an urban phenomenon. However. poverty reduction is rarely defined as a primary objective of slum policies. but is an indirect consequence of their implementation. This thesis aims to improve the understanding of the effects of slum policies on household welfare. Two case studies are discussed: the Slum Upgrading Scheme (SRB) in Mumbai, India, and the Integral Urban Projects (IUP) in Medellin, Colombia. Among others, we answer the following questions: What are the causes of post-rehabilitation residential mobility? What are the impacts of the SRB on access to credit? What are the effects of urban renewal projects on the level of housing consolidation? We use recent empirical economics methodologies to compare policy beneficiary groups with non-beneficiary groups. In the case of Mumbai, a survey was conducted by the author among 510 households in 9 slums targeted by the SRB policy. In the case of Medellin, three sources of information were used (the Quality of Life Survey, the Medellin Solidaria Survey and the SISBEN Survey) to monitor a set of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the policies before and after the urban renewal operations.