Rapid Assessment of Squatting Report (NOTE: LARGE FILE)

The mountainous interior of the island is flanked to the north and south by inconsistent coastal
plains. The plains are dominantly alluvial in nature with the more significant ones to the south of
the island. The coastal plains are dissected by mostly small, fast-flowing rivers which make their
passage through numerous interior valleys northwards or southwards to the sea.
Location of Squatter Settlements
Politically, Jamaica is divided into three (3) counties and fourteen (14) parishes, each parish with
a principal urban centre representing the administrative capital. The National Squatter Survey
(2004), show that Kingston and St. Andrew followed by St. Catherine had the largest number of
squatter settlements (see 2008 updated listing of seven hundred and fifty-four (754) squatter
settlements in Appendix VIII).
Traditionally, urban parishes are usually cited as Kingston, St. Andrew and St. Catherine with
the others grouped as rural. The survey reveals that rural parishes account for sixty-two percent
(62%) of settlements surveyed as against thirty-five percent (35%) in urban parishes.
Previous supporting research on squatting has shown that squatter settlements in rural parishes
are actually located within or on the fringes of the urban centres in these rural parishes
POPULATION
Reliable estimate of squatting population in Jamaica has to take into consideration the distinction
between the types of squatting. Previous studies carried out on squatting locally, have estimated
the residential squatting population within the range of fifteen percent (15%) to twenty-five
percent (25%) of Jamaica’s population. It is the preferred convention to use a range and
percentages as it is extremely difficult to verify every single case of squatting.
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