Revisiting the self-help housing debate: Perceptions of self-help Housing by the beneficiaries of low-cost housing in South Africa
Date
2008-08-07T13:05:20Z
Authors
Yengo, Andre Mengi
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Abstract
Regardless of housing backlog and rapid urbanization created by population
growth, the promotion of Self-Help Housing by authorities in charge of housing
and policy documents1, there is a limited used of Self-Help Housing in South
Africa. In pursuing the Self-Help Housing debate, this research argues that the
failure to implement a widespread use of Self-Help Housing is not directly linked
to weaknesses of Self-Help Housing. Instead, the difficult access to land for
urban poor households, the ignorance from households of their right of having
access to adequate shelter, the attitude of dependency evident in households,
the paternalistic attitude from the government, the failure to constitute an active
community and the failure to establish real priorities of poor people are the main
causes of the limited use of Self-Help Housing in South Africa. Tembisa, one of
the South Africa’s Townships, is used in this research for the purpose of
illustrating the unsuccessful implementation of Self-Help Housing, adopted in
South as People Housing Process (PHP).
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Keywords
Self-Helping Housing, liberalism, neo-liberalism, poverty, inequality, housing need