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The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgementTown of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Cape Published by the University ofof Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University A TENUOUS MIDDLE GROUND: CONFLICTING RATIONALITIES AND THE LIVED NEGOTIATION OF LOW INCOME HOUSING IN CAPE TOWN Noah Schermbrucker SCHNOA001 A dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Masters in Social Sciences in Environmental and Geographical Sciences Town Supervisor: Associate Professor Sophie Oldfield Cape Faculty ofof the Humanities University of Cape Town July 2010 University 1 PLAGIARISM DECLARATION This work has not been previously submitted in whole, or in part, for the award of any degree. It is my own work. Each significant contribution to, and quotation in, this dissertation from the work, or works, of other people has been attributed, and has been cited and referenced. Signature:_________________________________________Date:_______________________ Town Cape of University 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research project would not have been possible without the generous support of the African Centre for Cities who supported me fully during the last two years of my Masters’ at the University of Cape Town. I would also like to extend my thanks to the NRF whose funding greatly assisted me during my Masters degree I am also indebted to a number of individuals. Firstly my supervisor Professor Sophie Oldfield without whose time, effort, assistance and encouragement this paper would not have been possible. I sincerely thank you for helping me through this trying process; sitting through endless meetings, dealing with my frustrations, editing drafts, providing valuable insights and constantly pushing me to do better. I could not have asked for a better supervisor, and friend, and this paper is as much a testament to your hard work as it is to mine. I hope that we continue to stay in contact and can perhaps work together again in the future. Town Secondly my good friend Charlie Mogotsi, who acted as my guide, organizer and translator during my time in Stock Road and without whose help research,Cape would have been extremely difficult. Thirdly, Patricia Zweig, whose meticulous collection of documents on the CTCHC was of great assistance and helped me greatly in building aof concise history of the CTCHC. Professor Charlotte Lemanski who provided me with an opportunity to work as her research assistant while investigating “gap” housing in Cape Town. It was through this introduction to the terrain that I was able to find a study site. Doctor Pippin Anderson, postgraduate supervisor in the Environmental and Geographical Sciences department, who was always ready with encouragement and advice.University The staff members of the Client Contact Centre in Mitchells Plain were I conducted an internship over 3 months. I appreciate the time and effort you took in showing me the inner working of the Cape Town Community Housing Company. Your tireless dedication and explanations did much to change my perception of the Cape Town Community Housing Company. Thanks to the Housing Committee members and residents of Stock Road who have shared their histories, homes and experiences with me. I hope that this research can contribute to your struggles. The stories 3 which you have shared with me deserve to be told and can only positively contribute to better understanding the massive challenges which face housing delivery in South Africa. Finally thanks to my friends, colleagues and family. Without your words of encouragement I would not have ever been able to finish this paper. Town Cape of University 4 ABSTRACT This thesis explores debates surrounding the social production and interaction of divergent housing rationalities through qualitative research in a low income housing development called Stock Road and in the offices of the para-statal company that developed and administered the area, the Cape Town Community Housing Company (CTCHC). Investigations draw on literatures of the state, development and critiques of South African housing policy to “sketch” the predominant characteristics of the CTCHC’s housing rationality. The contours of residents housing rationalities are explored through an engagement with literatures and case studies that stress the social and historical aspects of home-ownership. The research is based on approximately 20 interviews with residents and housing committee members in Stock Road, an internship at the CTCHC’s Client Contact Centre and extensive consultation of relevant documents. The relationship between the CTCHC and residentsTown is a deeply troubled one stemming from long standing disputes over poorly built homes, changes in rental amounts, evictions and rectifications. These four processes are investigated from the perspectives of the CTCHC and residents to “draw out” vital characteristicsCape of each sides housing rationality. While the CTCHC sees houses in largely physical and economic ways residents understand their homes as the pinnacle of a long struggle to overcomeof severe housing insecurities. It is argued that residents and the CTCHC possess divergent logics, priorities and conceptions of housing that grate uneasily against each other and these have shaped, and are most evident, in the moments of conflict between them. These conflicting rationalities of housing are further informed by local contexts and histories that stress nuance and complexity working against polemical readings. The research contributes to a critical body of South African housing literature that interrogates the social production of Universityhousing policies and ideas and how these play out in local, grounded contexts. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM DECLERATION 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3 ABSTRACT 5 CHAPTER 1 10 THE CHALLENGES FACING HOUSING PROVISION IN SOUTH AFRICA: HOW TWO VISIONS OF HOUSING PLAY OUT IN A CAPE TOWN HOUSING DEVELOPMENT Introduction 10 Shedding light on Stock Road and the CTCHC: A multi-disciplinary literary approach 13 Bringing the CTCHC and Stock Road into empirical and theoretical conversation 15 Applying ethnographic methods to the CTCHC and Stock Road Town 19 Mapping engagements between residents and the CTCHC 20 CHAPTER 2 23 UNDERSTANDING HOUSES AS MORE THAN PHYSICAL:Cape HOW LITERATURES OF THE STATE, DEVELOPMENT AND ETHNOGRAPHIES PROBLEMATISE SOUTH AFRICAN HOUSING POLICY of Introduction 23 How the State “sees” citizens: Tracing the contours of the CTCHC’s narrow vision of housing 24 A narrow vision: How Scotts (1998) Nation-State provides key insights into the CTCHC 25 A modern critique of development: a further way of understanding the CTCHC 29 The valueUniversity of the local: an argument for the legitimacy of Stock Roads knowledge 31 How citizens negotiate development and knowledge: the place of resistance in Stock Road 33 Working against polemics: Using Mosse (2004) to complicate Stock Road and the CTCHC 34 A particular state, a particular house and a particular citizen: A brief assessment of South African Housing Policy 35 Introduction 35 Delivery focused policies 36 Policy changes 38 6 Conflicting Rationalities of Housing 39 An Alternative Vision: How Stock Road residents understand houses 39 Translation across Scales: Understanding how ideas and artifacts move between Stock Road and the CTCHC 42 Conclusion: Taking conflicting rationalities of housing seriously 43 CHAPTER 3 44 INTERROGATING STOCK ROAD: THE VALUE OF A QUALITATIVE APPROACH Introduction 44 A Qualitative Approach: Accessing Stock Road and the CTCHC from multiple “angles” 45 Towards a holistic qualitative methodology 47 Always in The Middle 47 An act of selection and translation Town 48 A Moral Geography 49 A “scaled” Approach 50 Conceptualising the Moments and Processes of EngagementCape 52 Conclusion 53 A case of the details: Break-down of researchof methods in Stock Road and at the CTCHC 54 Site Selection 54 Fieldwork in Stock Road 55 Internship at the CTCHC 56 Textual analysis 58 AccessingUniversity the Moments and Processes of Engagement 60 Conclusion 60 CHAPTER 4: A CONTEXTUAL OBLIGATION: THE HISTORIES OF STOCK ROADERS AND THE CTCHC 62 Introduction 62 The different paths to Stock Road: An exploration of insecure housing histories 63 Economic Opportunities 68 7 Experiences of Informality: the places and spaces that have characterized the histories of Stock Road residents 72 Philippi in context 75 Housing Histories: Essential to the Story of Stock Road 76 A troubled past: The History of the CTCHC 77 Impetus for the creation of the CTCHC 77 Launch of the CTCHC and Initial Projects 79 Changing Personnel 81 Problems at the CTCHC 82 The Changing Face of the CTCHC 87 Conclusion 88 CHAPTER 5 Town POORLY BUILT HOUSES AND RECTIFICATIONS: THE COMPLEXITIES OF ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN THE CTCHC AND STOCK ROAD RESIDENTS 89 Introduction 89 A History of Substandard Houses Cape 90 Processes and Moments of Engagement: Inferiorof Houses 99 Translating Scales: from policies of economic criteria to realities of living in poverty 99 Creating Partial Citizens: The CTCHC’s narrow economic “sighting” of Stock Road 104 Stock Road’s responses: How residents work within and against CTCHC definitions 108 Adding Nuance: A contextualized conversation between Stock Road and the CTCHC 110 These Foundations are not well: Rectifications in Stock Road 112