Shafaq News..Al-Dora clash highlights Iraq’s 3.5 million informal settlement crisis

On Aug 28, 2026

Shafaq News- Baghdad

A deadly armed clash during a campaign to remove
unauthorized homes in Baghdad’s southern Al-Dora district has brought Iraq’s
long-running housing and informal settlement crisis back into focus, after the
operation left a brigadier general and a security officer dead and four others
wounded.

Official data and comments from lawmakers and experts
indicate that the issue, which has accumulated over more than two decades, is
tied to housing shortages, land ownership, urban planning, public services and
enforcement of the law, as well as the protection of state teams carrying out
removal orders.

According to Iraq’s Ministry of Construction and Housing,
the country has more than 4,000 informal settlements housing about 3 million
people. Four successive governments have failed to pass legislation
specifically addressing informal settlements. The Ministry of Planning,
meanwhile, puts the number of registered settlements at 4,679, with a
population of about 3.5 million.

Baghdad has the highest number, with more than 1,000
settlements, accounting for about 23% of the total, followed by Basra. Survey
data show that about 87% of the encroached land belongs to the state, while 13%
is privately owned.

The term “encroachments” also extends beyond the narrow
statistical definition of informal settlements. Iraq’s latest population census
found that irregular and uninhabitable housing, including mud, reed and hair
tents, accounts for about 1.3% of more than 8 million housing units nationwide.

The broader encroachment problem includes homes and
neighborhoods built on government or agricultural land, as well as areas
outside designated land uses and urban plans.

Mohma Khalil Agha, head of the Parliamentary Services and
Reconstruction Committee during the fifth parliamentary term, said Iraq needs
about 5 million housing units to meet population demand, describing the
encroachment issue as a problem inherited from previous governments that
remains unresolved.

Speaking to Shafaq News, Khalil added that the government of
Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi should pursue a humanitarian solution that provides
legal protection for people who have no land or housing, provided their homes
are not built on prime plots, restricted areas, or sites designated for public
projects.

“The Services Committee had previously prepared legislation
to address the humanitarian aspect of the crisis without harming the state or
citizens, but the former government of Mohammed Shia al-Sudani withdrew the
bill.”

Khalil also pointed to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) as
a different model for addressing housing shortages, saying the region does not
face the same level of housing crisis and that resolving Iraq’s problem
requires political will to guarantee citizens’ right to housing.

Successive governments have sought to combine the
regularization of some encroachments with the provision of alternative housing.
Among the measures is Resolution 320 of 2022, concerning encroachments on
agricultural land, followed by Resolution 20 of 2025 on encroachments involving
land belonging to municipal institutions.

One proposed approach would regulate and transfer ownership
of eligible properties under specific conditions, while excluding land within
oil and archaeological restricted zones, railway corridors, power transmission
lines and sites designated for vital or public-benefit projects.

Economic expert Safwan Qusay said the problem begins with
violations involving the designated use of land, stressing that changing land
use from agricultural to residential, or from residential to commercial or
semi-commercial, without the required legal approvals constitutes a
“fundamental violation.”

He noted that the violations expand when construction
proceeds without official permits, when building materials enter sites without
proper approvals, and when water and electricity connections are provided to
housing units built outside legal requirements.

Qusay described the informal settlements that have expanded
across Baghdad and other provinces as requiring “correction,” proposing
legislation to allow the state to acquire certain structures and compensate
their owners with fixed amounts enabling them to relocate elsewhere.

He called for comprehensive legislation defining
responsibility for the “first violation,” namely the unauthorized change in
land use, as well as identifying the authorities that allowed the homes to be
built. Depending on each case, he proposed either removing the structures or
imposing fines on those responsible.

The impact of encroachments extends beyond land use. On
August 23, Eco Iraq Observatory said about 55% of electricity generated in Iraq
is lost during transmission and distribution due to encroachments, unauthorized
connections and the absence of metering systems.

Legal expert Mohammed Jumaa placed part of the
responsibility on government institutions, arguing that the state and its
agencies have “a duty to prevent encroachment from the moment the first brick
is laid.”

Jumaa told Shafaq News that land in Al-Dora had been
divided, fenced off and sold several times before homes were built and families
moved in, after which removal campaigns began.

He pointed to the responsibility of institutions that
allowed the fencing, subdivision, construction and sale of the land, as well as
real estate offices involved in selling encroached plots.

The legal expert distinguished between administrative
negligence, which can lead to disciplinary penalties, and collusion, which may
constitute a criminal offense carrying penalties that could include
imprisonment.

He said the presence of encroachments in full view of
relevant authorities throughout the stages of fencing, subdivision,
construction and sale points to possible failures in official duties and
warrants investigations into the employees and institutions responsible for
stopping the violations at an early stage.

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