Revisiting Affordable Housing Strategies in Africa: The Social Justice Case (original) (raw)
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2014
Housing is more about attitude than purse size. Since time immemorial, humans have always provided solutions to their habitat problems with minimum assistance from outsiders. However, aided self-help housing provision approaches became popular for solving the housing problems of the urban poor during the last half of the twentieth century. Since then, there have been constant efforts to position the urban poor at the centre of the housing development process, where they can exercise greater control and make investment decisions as funds allow. It has been proved, however, that the fundamental ingredient in home-ownership schemes for the urban poor is the smooth facilitation and provision of adequate and appropriate land in terms of occupation rights, size, location in relation to distance from city centres, planning ideals and costs. Allocating secure and affordable housing plots encourages incremental development of housing structures, on-site infrastructure and improvements of com...
01 CHALLENGES OF ACCESS TO LAND FOR URBAN HOUSING IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Without looking at the issue of land there can be no meaningful discussion on how to solve the problems of housing for the poor in our cities and towns. Administrative and legal blockages such as government procedures, over-bureaucratization, transfer difficulties, etc. have been the major constraints of access to land for housing in urban areas of developing countries. Consequently, the urban poor are unable to obtain land by legal means or they are unable to afford such land on market prices. Such common problems are administrative and technical due to gaps created by policies, coupled with the lack of understanding of issues by people in power. In sub-Saharan Africa particularly, the challenges and issues of access to land for urban housing are urbanization, urban poverty, corruption in land sector and inadequate institutional capacity of land administration. Sub-Saharan African countries need fundamental reform in the policy instruments in order to avoid the urban poor to be further impoverished.
Governance and institutional framework for ensuring just access to housing for all
2023
This qualitative reflective paper seeks to analyse how the existing governance and institutional framework at both local and national levels affect and impact the promotion of a just access to housing for all in Tanzania. Literature and documentary review on housing related research publications; as well as policies, acts and regulations were done respectively. This offered a basis for un-packing political developments and trends in housing policy administration since independence struggle-times to date. The review also paved a way for providing a detailed account on the roles, interactions and power relations of national and city level key actors that promote access to housing in the country. The findings inform that Tanzania lacks a legal framework designated to the housing sector. However, at both national and local levels, the study points out several related laws and policies that have an impact on the housing sector; among others, the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania (1977 - as amended) and the National Human Settlements Development Policy of 2000. This un-statutory nature of the housing sector has largely contributed to the unjust access to housing. There is a clear indication that housing has been marginalised and left behind in the national agenda. This is evidenced by the lack of an up-to-date National Housing Policy (NHP) and delayed approval of the new housing policy by the government. Furthermore, the housing sector has never found a permanent home within the institutional framework of Tanzania, as it has been shifting within various ministries and departments. In order to address these issues, the paper calls for major transformations in the governance and institutional framework of the housing sector. The Just City Platform (JCP) should prioritise to capitalise on facilitating debates and dialogues for promoting just access to housing for all. All key actors from the housing sector at both national and local levels should be engaged in these debates so as to work together towards putting just access to housing at the centre of the national development agenda. Doing so will trigger a chain reaction that is expected to switch on the drive towards giving housing the prominence it deserves in the political, social and economic development of the nation and hence, promoting just access to housing in Tanzania.
Housing in the aftermath of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme in Zimbabwe
Housing in the aftermath of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme in Zimbabwe, 2020
This book delves into the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) in Zimbabwe to provide insight into how it facilitated the delivery of housing for low-income urban households. It highlights the politics of land reforms and the power of community engagement in housing development in urban areas. Prior to the FTLRP, the Zimbabwean governments had never embraced popular modes of housing production as key factors in urban development. In the area of low-income housing, informal housing schemes have always been treated with apathy and indifference. This left the conventional mode of housing production to be the only legitimate means to house low-income households despite its shortcomings. However, the onset of the FTLRP in 2000 resulted in homeless urban households grasping the opportunity to invade farms for housing development. Through the lenses of Marxism and neoliberalism, this book analyses housing schemes that emerged and the overall impact of the FTLRP on housing and land delivery in Harare. This analysis is based on empirical evidence obtained from key informants and household surveys conducted in Harare. The authors argue that the FTLRP provided a platform for innovativeness by households, supported by the unpro nounced national urban vision and prowess of the political leadership. Hence the success of these housing schemes can be measured by acquisition of land which guarantees households access to the city. However, some of these housing schemes pose challengeskey among them being lack of infrastructure. The book concludes by presenting a new model for effective delivery of land and housing for the urban poor. This is envisaged as a useful policy tool for urban plan ners, housing experts, land economists, urban and regional geographers, as well as sociologists, political scientists and social workers engaged in public administration of land and housing. Lovemore Chipungu is a senior lecturer in the School of the Built Environment and Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. His areas of research are low-income housing, housing policy, urban land and urban design. He has published widely through books and journal articles. Hangwelani Hope Magidimisha is a Professor in the Housing and Town Planning cluster in the School of the Built Environment and Development Studies at the Uni versity of KwaZulu-Natal. She is also a SARCHi-Chair for Inclusive Cities whose interest is in spatial inequality and inclusivity of cities.
Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 2017
Among the rights in the Bill of Rights contained in the South African Constitution is the right to access adequate housing. This right is bound up with other rights in the Constitution, including the right to have human dignity respected, and the right to, inter alia water and health care. The right to adequate housing is also included in several international human rights declarations including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations. However, the right to access adequate housing is more than just shelter but includes a number of other elements such as security of tenure, and access to basic services and facilities. Housing must be affordable and accessible. It must be safe and habitable and be culturally acceptable. Moreover, adequate housing is well located with respect to economic and other opportunities. The provision of housing and basic services has been the focus of the ANC-led government since 1994, and a major portion of municipal resources has been dedicated to providing water and sanitation to particularly the poorest households, while over 4.3 million state-subsidized housing opportunities have been delivered. whereas the scale of delivery has been impressive, has it really impacted on the lives of people in remote communities? Research conducted in the Joe Morolong Municipality in the Northern Cape Province regarding the realization of the right to access adequate housing reveals that the right to adequate housing has at best, only been partially realized. In addition to interviews with office bearers and municipal officials, 120 households were interviewed (of which half were from self-built houses and half were residing in ''RDP'' houses) regarding their interpretation and experience of the right to access adequate housing in the municipality. The study reveals that the structures do not
2014
Among the rights in the Bill of Rights contained in the South African Constitution is the right to access adequate housing. This right is bound up with other rights in the Constitution, including the right to have their human dignity respected, and the right to,inter alia water and health care. The right to adequate housing is also included in several international human rights declarations including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations. However, the right to access adequate housing is more than just shelter but includes a number of other elements such as security of tenure, and access to basic services and facilities. Housing must be affordable and accessible. It must be safe and habitable and be culturally acceptable. Moreover, adequate housing is well located with respect to economic and other opportunities. The provision of housing and basic services has been the focus of the ANC-led government since 1994 and a major portion of municipal resources has ...
Low-income housing in the post-apartheid era: towards a policy framework for the Free State
1950 2.1 LOW-INCOME HOUSING POLICY IN LDCs DURING 1950-1970 2.2 AN OVERVIEW OF THE THINKING OF JFC TURNER 2.2.1 The low-income housing views of JFC Turner 2.2.2 An assessment of Turner's ideas 2.3 THE LOW-INCOME HOUSING POLICY OF THE WORLD BANK, 1970s-1990s 2.3.1 Low-income housing policy during the 1970s 2.3.2 Low-income housing policy during the 1980s 2.3.3 Low-income housing policy during the 1990s 2.3.4 An assessment of World Bank low-income housing policy 2.4 WHOLE SECTOR HOUSING DEVELOPMENT AND THE NEED FOR SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS: 1990 ONWARDS 2.4.1 Towards sustainable settlements 2.4.2 The Rio de Janeiro Conference and Local Agenda 21 2.4.3 Habitat II 2.4.4 Assessing the value of the sustainable settlement debate and whole sector housing development for low-income housing policy 2.5 CONCLUSION
Housing for the poor? Negotiated housing policy in South Africa
Habitat International, 2001
O$cial discussion and negotiation on housing policy in South Africa was closed in 1994 with the launch of the new Housing White Paper. Contradictions in this policy between housing procedure and delivery target have limited its relevance to the poorest sector in society. The paper shows how these tensions between product and process are an outcome of negotiated policy-making, in which the attempt was to combine the dominant position of the private sector for the commodi"cation of housing, with people-centred housing procedures advocated by the democratic movement. In the second term of ANC government, the housing ministry, aware of some of the limitations of its policy, stated its intention to review the housing policy. This has led to renewed discussion. The paper traces shifts and continuities in recent positions on housing in South Africa. It traces their emergence from within the democratic movement including labour and community or civic organisation, the more recent Homeless People's Federation/People's Dialogue alliance, and the private sector with its in#uential Urban Foundation and subsequent policy research institutes. The paper argues that shifts in housing "nance have largely ignored the needs of the poorest sector in society. Further, the inadequately integrated location of subsidised development for the poorest remains unchallenged. The perception of local government merely as implementer in a centralised programme limits the ability to address local realities, also imposing bureaucratic constraints on community-based construction. In addition, an evasive discourse on squatting does not lend itself to the formulation of mechanism of intervention oriented around the needs of the poor. These limitations in addressing poverty through housing policy should inform future research on shelter in South Africa.