[1] The colonias consist of peri-urban subdivisions of substandard housing lacking in basic services such as potable water, electricity, paved roads, proper drainage, and waste management.
Traditional homeownership financing methods are rare among colonia residents and so the areas consist of ramshackle housing units that are built incrementally with found material on expanses of undeveloped land.
[1] Despite economic development, liberalization, intensification of trade, the strategic geographic location of the southern U.S. border region does not stop it from being one of the poorest in the nation.
[3][5] Where sewer systems exist, there are no treatment plants in the area, and untreated wastewater is dumped into arroyos and creeks that flow into the Rio Grande or the Gulf of Mexico.
[14] These appeared as an informal housing solution for low-income predominantly Hispanic wage-earners through a model referred to by scholars as the "incremental approach".
[17] Colonias were hidden from view due to physical isolation and properties were divided into small lots, which would be bought by low-income families[14] via contracts for deed.
[15] These deals, which sold unimproved lots, included undocumented and thus unenforceable promises to provide basic provisions such as water, sewage, and electricity.
[15] As more dwellings appeared with minimal infrastructure, the value of the land decreased and ultimately became more affordable as a living option for low-income families on the border.
[14] This can be subject to the effects of globalization and the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, which industrialized the Mexico–United States border, created many jobs,[19] and encouraged migration.
[18] Scholars have criticized the naming of these settlements as colonias, stating that the use of the Spanish word not only creates difficulties within the public policy sector of government, but also fosters the notion that these settlements are alien and not a part of the U.S.[18] However, those within the public that do recognize colonias and their living conditions view them as "border slums",[7] while scholars have since the 1990s described them as a "third world" within the United States.
For the border region's poor, colonias provide affordable housing and the opportunity to obtain the American Dream of owning a home.
As of 2011 Hidalgo County has the largest number of colonias in Texas, though estimating their population is difficult due to isolation, shared addresses, rapid changes in development, and mistrust of government.
Within a couple of years, landowners were then allowed to split their land into two parcels, but after some time, the subdivision law was amended to close this "loophole utilized by colonia developers".
[14] About 70% of colonia residents have not graduated from high school and many lack English-language skills, which hampers their job mobility, suppresses wages,[14] and the ability to seek assistance.
Colonias may be lacking in all types of essential physical infrastructure and public services, such as clean water, sanitary sewage, and adequate roads.
[19] Ultimately, immigrants in the border region face language barriers and fear of retaliation against family members without any form of identification.
[32] Data collected through a household survey in 2002 and 2003 by the Integrated Health Outreach System Project (IHOS) was analyzed to describe the population in terms of sociodemographic status, HRQL, and other variables.
[33] Furthermore, the study found that people living in colonias had the highest rates of binge drinking and alcohol dependence correlated with anxiety, traumatic stress, and hopelessness.
In nutritional research, investigators assessed the experiences of child food insecurity and seasonal instability within Mexican-origin mother-child dyads living in Mexico–U.S.
[1][18] Those that support the egalitarian approach believe that colonias currently demonstrate a notion of inferiority for those that dwell there; in response, they propose standards of living enforced by government regulation.
[7] However, colonias such as those in Riverside and San Diego counties are disqualified from the CBDG for being within metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with over a million people.
[7] Similarly, the U.S. Department of Agriculture limits its colonias to settlements of no more than 20,000 residents, disqualifying the majority of communities seeking funding in California.
The North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) is an international environmental-agreement between the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
[16] In order to ensure that NAFTA would pass, the Clinton Administration pushed for NAAEC as a side agreement specifically to aid border environmental issues.
[16] From NAAEC came the creation of the Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC), an institution providing a forum for environmental-law enforcement disputes to be resolved.
[16] Scholars generally agree that the NAAEC's diction is ambiguous and does not clearly define the authority that the organization has; it is also unclear whether violators are obligated to respond to inquiries made by the CEC, and thus few parties have actually been investigated and punished for failing to cooperate.
[16] The charter creating the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) and North American Development Bank (NADB) was the first multinational agreement to address the problems faced by colonians.
[16] These two binational institutions were created to resolve issues that revolve around land contamination and sustainable water/wastewater infrastructure and compensate for CEC's shortcomings.
[7] Critics have stated that HUD's focus has been on preventing the development of colonias rather than seeking to provide those of low-income with a larger supply of affordable housing.
These groups include the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service (TxLIHIS), an affordable-housing-advocacy nonprofit organization,[47] and the Colonias Development Council in New Mexico.