Housing Issues South Africa - 7704 Words

ARTICLE IN PRESS Habitat International 31 (2007) 291–302 www.elsevier.com/locate/habitatint Sustainable urban development? Low-cost housing challenges in South Africa Allison GoebelÃÆ' Environmental Studies and Women’s Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ont., Canada K7L 3N6 Abstract Low-cost housing provision has been a major focus of government in post-apartheid urban South Africa. While successes can be noted, there is growing concern regarding the social and environmental sustainability of housing programs and the impacts upon both the surrounding environment and human health. Utilizing key informant interviews, survey research, Census data and documentary review, this essay identiï ¬ es the major impediments to a sustainable low-cost†¦show more content†¦Government responded to these emerging problems, and to the pressures of NGO and community groups, making some changes to housing policy. For example, the support for people’s participation in the 1994 policy was deepened after the Habitat II conference of 1996, when South Africa adopted a ‘‘Habitat Agenda’’. The Agenda promotes a ‘‘people’s housing process’’ approach, meant to support local people’s initiatives and sustainability in housing (Huchzermeyer, 2001, p. 323). However, government also responded to the Habitat Agenda with the Urban Development Framework (1997), which critics on the left say supports market-led urban development and reform (Huchzermeyer, 2001, p. 320). Informal settlements, or shack dwellings have caused much government debate, with forced removal policies being displaced by other, less draconian models. The new Department of Housing plan Breaking New Ground (released in September 2004) demonstrates some of this new openness to diversity in low-cost housing approaches (DOH, 2004a). Furthermore, a ‘‘Housing Indaba’’ held in September 2005, bringing together stakeholders in low-cost housing from government, the private sector, civil society and academia, identiï ¬ ed as the ï ¬ rst of their ‘‘Targets’’: ‘‘The removal or improvement of all slums in South Africa as rapidly as possible, but not later than 2 014.’’2 New governmentShow MoreRelatedAnalysis of Housing in Cape Town, South Africa804 Words   |  3 PagesIntroduction In the 1990s, Housing program in South Africa in general, and in Cape Town in particular, was still influenced by earlier housing policies and constrained by the pattern of low-income urban settlement inherited from the apartheid era, the main issue was the provision of houses for the poorest growing population, the outline of the governments’ approach to this issue is the concept of state assisted self help housing and commitment of incremental approach to housing, this policy has underminedRead MoreCry, The Beloved Country By Alan Paton1155 Words   |  5 PagesThe Beloved Country by Alan Paton is a stunning and all too accurate depiction of apartheid in South Africa. 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