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| After nearly three decades, Arnaldo and his wife, Socorro, are finally about to get a land title. The title will do more than just give them more security of ownership—it will also give them the ability to fulfill a dream they've had for years: to take out a loan to rebuild they're cramped, detoriorating wooden home out of sturdy bricks. |
Centenos II is now a community of 71 families. As is true in many of the communities where AJS works, residents suffer from a lack of green space, gang violence, drugs, a few work opportunities. The dirt roads slowly errode away during the rainy season, and it takes more than an hour by bus to reach the center of Tegucigalpa. On top of all that, lax government documentation of land ownership in poor neighborhoods has made it impossible for Arnaldo's family and their neighbors to get land titles.
But now, after years of uncertainty, Arnaldo and Socorro will finally own the land they settled. Thanks in part to ASJ’s help, the neighborhood of Centenos II is in the final stages of earning land titles.
This accomplishment is possible due in large part to the AJS Land Rights project's efforts in lobbying the Honduran legislature. In 2004, the Congress passed a new Property Law that helps the neighborhoods’ current residents get indisputably valid land titles quickly. In a nutshell, the government expropriates neighborhoods where ownership is unclear, the current residents pay for their land into an escrow account and receive valid titles. Meanwhile, if any of the supposed “landowners” can show in court that they truly owned the land before it was settled and expropriated, they’re compensated with the money in the escrow account.
The process has not been easy for the residents of Centenos. The government land department made mistakes while carrying out the community land survey, resulting in the community’s official borders being sloppy and unclear. Because of the error, the bank that had agreed to hold the community members’ escrow accounts pulled out just before signing the agreement. According to Nora Irías, the community promoter for the Land Rights team, the bank was unwilling to adjust its strict policy and terminated the contract without helping them find a solution.
The titling process had been at a standstill for two years when AJS helped Martinez and the community negotiate with a new bank. Within six months of AJS’s involvement, community members signed an escrow agreement with another bank and proceeded to the final steps in receiving titles.
Martinez, a 62-year-old security guard, is one of the community’s founding members, the president of its neighborhood association, and has represented Centenos II throughout the titling process. His service to the community is finally about to pay off. Once the families pay the appraised value of their land to the bank they will be rewarded with their land titles. Once the title is in hand, he’ll be able to take out a loan to rebuild his wooden house out of bricks.
Titles are important because they allow owners to take out loans to improve their property or start a business. According to Martinez, a land title gives him the assurance that no one will try to kick him out of his home, and allows him to sell his property or bequeath it to his children when he dies. “It’s important because I have the right to be an owner and to sell my property if I want to,” he says. “Without a title they can take it away from you.”
Without the help of the ASJ land rights team, the community would still be locked in the gridlock of the land titling system. “You have helped us so much,” Martinez said.
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