Irregular Settlements and the Incompatibility Between Social and Private Property

Irregular Settlements and the Incompatibility of Social and Private Property

Abstract

This paper examines how misalignments between ejido assemblies, municipal urban planning, and public registries—specifically the National Agrarian Registry, the Public Registry of Property, and the cadastre—foster irregular settlements and insecure tenure in Mexico. Using a doctrinal and socio‑legal approach, it reviews the Constitution, the Agrarian Law, and the General Law on Human Settlements, Territorial Planning and Urban Development, as well as holdings from the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation and the Inter‑American Court of Human Rights, and proposes an operational indicator set. The analysis identifies three gaps: a competence gap, because assembly decisions and urban permits do not interact effectively; a registry gap, marked by poor interoperability and limited opposability; and an operational gap, since ex post regularization proceeds more slowly than informal expansion. A governance architecture is proposed—Ejido–Municipality agreements, one‑stop shops, interoperable systems, and simplified titling with traceability to cadastre and services—together with diversified tenure instruments and equality‑oriented safeguards. Suggested metrics include registered titles, processing time, coverage of water, sewerage and electricity, access to credit, and litigation, plus an interoperable national settlements registry. The main limitation is the scarcity of comparable time series and microdata. The contribution is a measurable method that aligns the social function of property with the right to adequate housing.