An Evaluation of Success and Failures in Hambantota, Siribopura Resettlement Housing Program: Lessons Learned

Abstract

Resettlement of displaced communities both developments induced and disaster induced has been a subject widely discussed for the last three decades. Among them this study reviews the experience of Siribopura resettlement housing program in Hambantota Sri Lanka, a city which has witnessed a number of evictions and resettlements during the past half a decade. Accordingly this article presents the findings of factors that contributed to the success and failures of the resettlement housing programs implemented in Hambantota during the period of 2004–2011. Autonomy of designing own houses, appropriate counseling and facilitating the resettlers to adapt to new environments, proper linkage of socio cultural aspects with real estate and economic aspects and availability of formal property rights are presented as crucial factors for the success of the resettlement in the case materials provided within this study. It is expected that the lessons learned from this research may provide a systematic feedback that can be utilized to increase effectiveness of planning and operation of resettlement programs in other emerging cities in Sri Lanka.