The Dynamics of Informal Settlements Upgrading in South Africa
[Informal Settlements Upgrading in South Africa: A Study Commissioned by Habitat for Humanity International/ EMEA Office, Bratislava, Slovakia] The Dynamics of Informal Settlements Upgrading in South Africa: Legislative and Policy Context, Problems, Tensions, and Contradictions A Study Commissioned by Habitat for Humanity International/EMEA Office (Bratislava, Slovakia) Alhassan Ziblim (Author) Mr Gyorgy Sumeghy Regional Advocacy Manager (Project Supervisor) Thanks to: Dr. Andrew Cartwright Research Fellow, CEU Center for Policy Studies (For the very useful comments) Final Research Report (August 15, 2013) i [Informal Settlements Upgrading in South Africa: A Study Commissioned by Habitat for Humanity International/ EMEA Office, Bratislava, Slovakia] Executive Summary Access to adequate housing remains a big challenge in South Africa, despite efforts since 1994, to deliver affordable housing to about 2.3million poor households through the project-linked housing subsidy scheme. The current housing backlog in South Africa stands at 2.1million households, and approximately 1.2million of these households live in informal settlements, under very precarious conditions, which pose serious threat to their health, safety, and security. Against this backdrop, the government introduced groundbreaking housing policy reforms in 2004, which included a programme devoted to the upgrading of informal settlements. The new initiative, crowned as the “Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme” (UISP), had the objective to “eradicate” all informal settlements by 2014. After almost a decade of implementation, and practically less than a year to its initial “slum eradication” deadline of 2014, this study sets out to explore the policy dynamics, and implementation of the UISP, through the lens of good governance. It seeks to identify and flesh out the key policy gaps, in order to inform further policy learning.
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