published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

<p>In this report, housing development and perticipation of communities are examined. Although houses have been build in certain areas of Khayelitsha , there is a slow delivery and there is a lack of public involvement in housing programme to decide about the future of the community. In order for any development to be sustainable it must be driven by affected people with a sense of ownership being engendered to them. This holistic approach for housing development is in line up with the current government policy on the matter.</p>

Structural inequalities within the social and economic environment have wide reaching impacts on the housing conditions of the poor. These households are marginalized by swelling housing cost burdens, shelter insufficiency, and sociospatial restriction to the lowest income communities. Housing research has examined the correlation between policy and the social location of low-income individuals. However, very little research analyzes the intersection of low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) policy design and sociospatial trends among low-income households. Using content analysis, the purpose of this dissertation is to determine whether the policy documents that guide allocation of the LIHTC encourage poverty deconcentration. The research questions are (a) How have states represented sociospatial themes in their low-income housing tax credit allocation plans and do these sociospatial themes emphasize poverty deconcentration? (b) How have these priorities changed over time? and (c) Are there correlations between changes in poverty concentration and emphasis of poverty deconcentration within state low-income housing qualified allocation plan designs? The findings of this study suggest that: (1) The social constructs embedded into the QAP policy instrument design confines understanding of the LIHTC program to advantaged and contender social groups; (2) Sociospatial themes have evolved between 2000 and 2010. There was a significant shift from 2000 to 2010 with the inclusion of priorities related to the accessibility of transportation and the quality of services within targeted communities; (3) Poverty deconcentration themes represented approximately 27 percent of the sociospatial themes in 2000 and 2010. There was a marginal change in the weight of these themes over time. (4) There were correlations between changes in MSA poverty concentration and poverty deconcentration priorities within QAP. The direction and the degree of these changes were correlated with region and political ideology. This study shows that opportunities exist to enhance outcomes within the documents that guide allocation of LIHTC. Doing so could serve as an important step toward improving the well-being of low-income households.

In 1997 the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority received a HOPE VI grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the amount of $26.9 million to revitalize the Blackwell scattered site public housing community. The mixed income approach of HOPE VI calls for a reduction of public housing units, thus requiring all households to relocate to other neighborhoods. This research analyzed socioeconomic data to examine the relocation of households, assess whether they moved to better neighborhoods, and compare them to other poor households. Over half of all households moved to other distressed neighborhoods in the Northside, East End, and Southside sections of Richmond. While voucher households moved to better neighborhoods, public housing households appeared to move to neighborhoods of similar and worse quality than Blackwell. Overall, relocated households moved to less stable communities than other poor households. Research suggests that a regional approach is needed to open suburban housing options to low-income families in order to effectively deconcentrate poverty.

M.Tech. / South African government is one of the countries in the world that has delivered the highest number of houses to the poor through various delivery mechanisms to fulfill her vision to adequate housing for all as reflected in the National Housing Policy framework. Since 1994, about One Million Eight Hundred and Seventy Seven Thousand Nine Hundred and Fifty Eight (1 877 958) houses has been delivered. People’s Housing Process is a state-assisted, self help housing programme and about 3% of the total houses built were delivered through the PHP housing delivery programme. The Government’s goal is, subject to fiscal affordability, to increase housing delivery on a sustainable basis to a peak level of 350 000 units per annum until the housing backlog is overcome (South Africa’s National Housing code policy, 2000:5). The government focused on quantitative housing delivery with qualitative shortcomings. However the focus has now shifted to the quality of the end product delivered. Defects in houses manifest themselves primarily through cracking, dampness, detachment, and water leakages. Defects may be patent or latent, and could be discovered through checking, observations and tests. This research work is a study of structural qualities of houses delivered through PHP. The study investigated the causes of structural inadequacies in PHP houses focusing in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. The findings show that different types of structural defects occurred in houses delivered through PHP scheme, these defects include roof leakages, cracks in walls, wall not being straight and defects in roof trusses. The cause of these defects was as a result of poor quality control mechanism put in place by the Department of Housing.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Building / The increasing housing backlog in Gauteng has resulted in many challenges, amongst them a need in ensuring that there is a fair and transparent allocation of housing opportunities to communities. The City of Johannesburg is an accredited municipality and administers the housing process within its jurisdiction. The purpose for the accreditation of municipalities was to deal with the backlog and improve on housing delivery. The research examines the allocation process of Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) houses at the City of Johannesburg municipality. The study looked at the South African housing history, policies, and factors affecting the process with a view to highlight methods to improve the process. The qualitative approach to research was adopted in collecting data. Using the techniques of process mapping, data was collected through qualitative interviews and semi-structured questionnaires with key personnel at the municipality to develop a process map of the municipality’s allocation process. Through this process related issues contributing to backlogs and delays, and problems in the administration of the process were identified. Adopting a business process improvement tool could assist in improving the process and addressing the backlog issue. Keywords: Allocations, RDP houses, Processes, Backlogs and Business Process Improvement.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, 1995 / This thesis presents an analysis of the relationship between social processes, cognitive understandings and the organisation of space, as this pertains to local-level politics in a section of Alexandra township, South Africa, during 1991 and 1992. The context of the thesis is the attempts by the Alexandra Civic Organisation and the Alexandra branch of the African National Congress to elicit support from people living in formal and inform~i housing during a period of intense violence. The focus of the ethnographylis on local-level civic structures and political leadership, which in some ways support and in others contradict the aims and objectives of these two organisations. The reason for this internal political diversity is that local-level politics is embedded within social maps - cognitive orderings of space that represent patterns of social relations and structures of power. This points to the main theoretical focus of the thesis: the interrelationship of space, culture and society in an urban context. Urbanism is conventionally defined in sociological and geographical terms as the articulation between social process and urban spatial form. The thesis shows how anthropology can make a contribution to this field of study by incorporating a concern with culture. The mutually constitutive relationship of urban space, culture and society presents a way of looking at urbanism that does not depend on a rural-urban dichotomy; a social. and cultural dualism which is conventionally fitted into a modernist narrative of urbanisation. The ethnography in the thesis demonstrates the inapplicability of this narrative, and the categories of rural tradition and urban modernity which it implies. Keywords: anthropology, urbanism, urbanisation, rural-urban dichotomy, space, Alexandra, politics, civic organisation, informal housing. / AC2017

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in the field of Public and Development Management, MM(P&DM), 2016 / The South African government has been faced over time with the triple challenges of inequality, poverty and unemployment. Social ills such as poverty and unemployment can lead to situations where low income earners or unemployed citizens are unable to afford decent housing and adequate living standards, resulting in people living in slum conditions or sub-standard housing conditions. The problem of insufficient housing is an international phenomenon from which South Africa is not exempt. South Africa promulgated the Housing White Paper (which includes provision for social housing) in 1994 in an attempt to deal with the challenges of the housing problem. The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP is a low-cost housing programme aimed at providing decent housing for poor citizens. The country continues to be challenged by an increase in the demand for housing. Research conducted on RDP housing revealed that there are a number of problems associated with the provision of RDP housing. These include the poor quality of many of the houses, lack of communication, and the duplication of functions of stakeholders. These challenges require government improvement in order to provide decent housing to citizens. / XL2018