This research area is driven by the following questions that arise from the official discourse on informal settlement intervention in South Africa:
- Should informal settlements be seen as a ‘housing problem requiring a housing solution’, or is a more holistic
approach required?
- Is it true that informal settlement upgrading rewards the unlawful occupiers and encourages further invasion of land?
- Should the target be to eradicate informal settlements or to improve the lives of those living in them?
- Should informal settlement dwellers not be central to any initiatives to improve their lives?
- How can improvements be achieved that don’t destroy people’s fragile livelihoods?
- What rights to informal settlement dwellers have, and are these being respected?
- Given the shortage of housing and the overburdening of existing housing stock for the poor, is it acceptable to practice
zero tolerance on new land invasions?
Background of the research Listed above are some of the tough questions that policy makers and urban managers in South Africa are facing. In 2004, a new
Informal Settlement Upgrading Programme was finalized as Chapter 13 of the National Housing Code, a new Housing Programme introduced through the new housing plan of 2004,
Breaking New Ground.
For the first time, municipalities were able to apply for funding from the national housing budget (via Provincial government) for innovative and responsive interventions to improve the lives of those living in informal settlements. For the first time, municipalities did not have to exclude those households not qualifying for housing subsidies.
Under Chapter 13 of the Housing Code, municipalities can apply for a community-based or area-based subsidy that is not linked to individual households, but based on the actual cost of improving an informal settlement. The programme has no ceiling for the cost of purchasing and rehabilitating land. It encourages municipalities to stop relocating informal settlements from expensive or geotechnically unsuitable land to new housing developments on the outskirts of cities and towns. Instead, it enables already occupied land to be made habitable, even if technically and economically deemed unsuitable. Relocation is treated as a very last resort, and in such cases, funding can be applied to purchase land in close proximity to the existing informal settlement. The programme includes funding for interim services, and for community empowerment. It gives a clear answer to many of the questions posed above:
- Informal settlements should not be seen as a ‘housing problem’, but as a far more complex problem
- Even if some think that upgrading rewards unlawful occupiers, all informal settlements should be dealt with under
the Informal Settlement Upgrading Programme.
- The target should be to improve people’s lives.
- Informal settlement dwellers should be central to initiatives to improve their lives.
- Every effort must be made not to destroy people’s fragile livelihoods.
- The constitutional rights of informal settlement dwellers must be respected, particularly where relocation is being considered.
However, interpretations differ widely within and outside of government. A glaring example is the Kwa-Zulu Natal Elimination and Prevention of the Reemergence of Slums Act enacted by the Kwa-Zulu Provincial Legislature in mid 2007. Spearheaded by the
Slum Dwellers’ Movement Abahlali, housing rights groups are collaborating in challenging the unconstitutionality of this provincial legislation. In the passing of this Act, numerous submissions were dismissed. The main piece of national legislation that applies to people living in informal settlements, the
Prevention of Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act, is also under review with an
amendment proposed. This too has been subject to intense debate with numerous
submissions relating to the interpretation of how informal settlements should be treated.
Contributions from our research area on informal settlements In the years leading up to 2004, the School of Architecture and Planning undertook NRF-funded research (project no. NRF4822) into informal settlement policy, involving a number of
postgraduate students’ research reports and theses. The first phase (2003) involved international literature reviews on various aspects of informal settlement policy, institutional arrangements and implementation. In the second phase (2004), the findings from the literature review were applied to an analysis of the South African policy environment.
Through a series of
workshops, the project engaged with all tiers of government, NGO, CBO and research sectors in and around Johannesburg, with the view to increasing the level of discussion about informal settlement policy. The conscious attempt was to influence the policy-making process.
In addition, a team led from within the School and involving postgraduate students as well as external experts was commissioned early 2004 by national Department of Housing to carry out a
Study into the Support of Informal Settlements. This study built on the findings of the NRF-funded project and fed into the formulation of Chapter 13 of the National Housing Code (the Informal Settlement Upgrading Programme). Its output can be accessed here:
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Main Report
-
Background Report 1: Conceptual -
Background Report 2: Legal Review -
Background Report 3: Practice in SA Metropolitan Cities
- Background Report 4: Community Engagement
- Background Report 5: International Good Practice
- Background Report 6: Specialist Papers
- Background Report 7: Final Recommendations Also in 2004, research leader Marie Huchzermeyer published a
book titled "Unlawful Occupation": Informal Settlements and Urban Policy in South Africa and Brazil’ published by Africa World Press.
The informal settlement research was expanded to include contributions from a range of international and South African researchers and culminated in a
book in 2006:
‘Informal Settlements: A Perpetual Challenge? published by UCT Press .
A special issue of the journal
South African Review of Sociology (formerly Journal of South African Sociological Association) was published in 2006, with a special focus on
"Informal Settlements and Access to Land". It contains the following contributions which led out of the 2004 workshop mentioned above:
- Leduka, R.C.: Explaining informal land delivery processes and institutions in African cities: Conceptual framework
and emerging evidence.
- Berrisford, S. and Kihato, M.: The role of planning law in evictions in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Mohamed, S.E.: From ideas to practice: The involvement of informal settlement communities in policy-making at city
level in South Africa.
- Charlton, S.: Learning from the local: Experiences of informal settlement upgrading in KwaZulu-Natal.
- Vermeulin, S.: Informal settlement policies in the polycentric city: The case of Durban.
Two
PhD students who have contributed to this research area are currently completing their PhD theses:
- Salah Mohamed: ‘The search for a contextually appropriate and participative management approach for cities with
informal settlements’.
salah_alzain@yahoo.co.uk - Georgine Peter: ‘NGOs as agents of community participation: Their legitimacy, accountability and representation in the informal settlement sector in South Africa’.
shaatg@hotmail.com On an ongoing basis, attempts are made to promote the implementation of the ‘Informal Settlement Upgrading Programme (Chapter 13 of the Housing Code), and to network with
key organizations in commenting on proposed changes in legislation and in responding to housing rights violations in informal settlements, such as ongoing illegal evictions by municipalities – a recent case is the Makausi informal settlement in Ekurhuleni Metro in February 2007. We’ve also posted
conference papers on informal settlement intervention that might be of interest. These also engage with international initiatives such as ‘Cities without Slums’ and their interaction with the South African policy.
We would like this website to serve as a resource on informal settlement policy, implementation and debate.
Marie Huchzermeyer 011-7177688,
marie.huchzermeyer@wits.ac.za Aly Karam 011-7177707,
aly.karam@wits.ac.za
School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (November 2007).