This article discusses the dilemmas that individuals faced after relocating from periurban informal settlements to a new housing development community. In 1999, the Coega Development Corporation collaborated with city officials in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, to create a housing community called Wells Estate for people who were living in informal settlements, displaced by the construction of a new economic development project. Several years after their forced resettlement, Wells Estate residents still faced many challenges adjusting to their new location. Some residents stated that the sense of community, openness, and social trust that they had experienced in their previous residence was lost when they moved to their new homes. Also, some residents mentioned how reciprocity and the sharing of resources, which were common practices in their informal settlements, had been dramatically altered in the new community. By using the community of Wells Estate and its creation as a case study, this article explores how the forced displacement and relocation of individuals may affect social cohesion, trust, and community involvement among people relocated from informal settlements. This research aims to address whether a transition from informality to formal housing can have detrimental consequences on community sentiment and social cohesion.Keywords Community; Economic development; Forced removals; South Africa; Squatters Relocations, resettlements, and forced removals have a long history in South Africa, both before and during the apartheid era. At the height of this system of racial segregation enforced through National Party legislation and white minority rule between 1960 and 1983, more than 3.5 million black Africans were relocated to areas across the country especially designated for them. These new settlements tended to be situated either in one of South Africa's desolate ethnic homelands or in black townships on the outskirts of major cities (Platzky & Walker, 1985:9).Since the fall of apartheid and the creation of a democratic country, people are no longer forcibly relocated because of their ethnicity. Instead, individuals are now able to live in any area of the country without fear of arrest, including areas in major cities or in the numerous settlements that border these cities. Despite this new freedom of movement, large numbers of disadvantaged groups are still impacted by the government's plan to improve the economy through large-scale economic development initiatives. These initiatives tend to go head-to-head with individuals' residential and living choices, which subsequently impact their kin and the social relationships they have established in their communities. Although these economic plans are touted by the government as a means to assist the poor and to boost overall economic development and well-being for the country and its people, they often lead to 224