Colonias are low-income settlements on the US-Mexico border characterized by
poor infrastructure, minimum services, and an active housing construction with a high
self-help and self-management component. Housing in colonias is very diverse showing
house forms that include temporary and permanent structures, campers, trailers or
manufactured houses and conventional homes. Most of this housing does not meet
construction standards and codes and is considered substandard. Colonias households are
also of diverse nature and composition including single households, nuclear and
extended families, as well as multiple households sharing lots. This wide variety of
house forms and households in colonias fits poorly within the nuclear household, single
family detached housing idealized by conventional low-income housing projects,
programs and policies. As a result, colonias marginally benefit from the resources
available to them and continue to depend mostly on the individual efforts of their
inhabitants. This research identifies the housing diversity and the process of housing
consolidation in colonias of the US-Mexico border by looking at the patterns of house
form and household arrangements in colonias of South Texas. Ten colonias located to
the east of the city of Laredo along Highway 359 in Webb County, Texas were selected
based on their characteristics, data availability and accessibility. Data collected included
periodic aerial images of the colonias spanning a period of 28 years, household
information from the 2000 census disaggregated at the block level for these colonias,
and information from a field survey and a semi structured interview made to a random
sample of 123 households between February and June 2007. The survey collected
information about house form and household characteristics. The survey also
incorporated descriptive accounts on how households completed their house from the
initial structure built or set on the lot until the current house form. Data was compiled
and analyzed using simple statistical methods looking for identifiable patterns on house
form and household characteristics and changes over time.
Findings showed that housing in colonias is built and consolidated following
identifiable patterns of successive changes to the house form. Findings also showed that
households in colonias share characteristics that change over time in similar ways. These
results suggest similarities of colonias with extra-legal settlements in other developing
areas. Based on these findings, the study reflects on possible considerations that could
improve the impact of projects, programs and policies directed to support colonias and
improve colonias housing.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2009-08-907 |
| Date | 2009 August 1900 |
| Creators | Reimers-Arias, Carlos Alberto |
| Contributors | Seidel, Andrew D., Abrams, Robin F. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
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