D.Arch., Faculty of Architecture, University of the Witwatersrand, 1953

M.Com. (Business Management) / The study was conducted to address a few of the fundamental factors that contributed to the present housing shortage in South Africa and also to emphasise certain aspects that may assist in the proper functioning of a future housing scheme in a post-apartheid South Africa. Substantial consensus has been reached by researchers that urbanisation should concentrate on employment creation, be development-oriented, and emphasise economic growth. Undesirable phenomena such as poverty, unemployment and the deterioration of land should be managed by the elimination of factors such as a high population increase, development backlogs and restrictions on mobility by means of long term strategies that are executed on a step by step basis. Affordable standards and realistic regulations for housing, physical infrastructure and social services should be implemented on an urgent basis to promote home ownership for all sectors of the market. The study substantiates the importance of the formulation of special programmes for the prevention and the reduction of housing backlogs as well as for the promotion of the upgrading of existing structures. All this must however be done within the financial ability of the state which in turn necessitates a substantial and urgent increase in contributions from the private sector.

D.Phil. (Geography) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Affordable rental housing is an important form of housing tenure in urban areas, providing opportunities and choice for households seeking housing. Since 2004, government has recognised this and has extended the choice of tenure options available to very low, low- and medium-income households, particularly in better-located parts of the urban environment (McCarthy, 2010). This has resulted in the development of government programmes to support the development and strengthening of the rental sector. This study is an attempt to examine the delivery of affordable rental housing in urban areas, with the focus on Johannesburg inner city, and to assess options currently provided by role players in this sector and the constraints that are faced in achieving successful delivery of this accommodation. The study looked at large private and public organisations involved in this market for a comparative analysis of challenges in the affordable rental housing market. Interviews were conducted with key people from the selected organisations in the Johannesburg inner city in order to draw from their experiences of the market. Constraints highlighted by the organisations are; the slow release of buildings for conversion and upgrading into units by the City of Johannesburg, high costs of utilities charged by the City of Johannesburg in the inner city and the monthly rentals defaulting by tenants. As a way forward, it is anticipated that the new Inner City Property Scheme will address the slow release of stock for conversion and upgrading into units. The study recommends that continuous research on affordable rental housing should be done in order to establish innovative ways of dealing with the challenges.

Despite South African citizen’s constitutional right to adequate housing, Government’s housing delivery has been described as a complex, multi-stakeholder, multi-phase problem, exacerbated by political interference and corruption. Housing delivery in South Africa is ideologically and politically designed and executed. However, the government subsidised housing sector remains plagued by: huge and increasing backlogs; corruption; quality concerns, and recipient and stakeholder dissatisfaction. This includes the government subsidised housing construction sector, which faces issues such as: established contractors leaving the sector; late and failed completion; substandard quality; rework; cost overruns; late progress payments; and insolvencies. Moreover, government subsidised housing officials, which forms part of this sector, must contend with abandoned projects and appointing new contractors; shoddy workmanship from sub-standard contractors; remedial work, including demolition and rebuilding; and systemic problems such as staff shortages and under qualified staff. The process of Government’s ideological and political designed and execution may therefore not have considered certain practicalities relative to construction principles and practice. It therefore appears that there may be some relationship between the compatibility of Government’s housing ideological and political designed (policy) and execution and general construction principles and practice. It is clear from the related literature that government subsidised housing construction has mostly been investigated as an exercise observing from the outside in, and not from a construction sector perspective. The main purpose of this study is thus to explore housing policy and practice compatibility as a major obstacle to housing delivery in general and assess whether the current housing policy is sufficiently responsive to the requirements of the government subsidised housing sector by specifically describing and exploring the effects of Government’s housing procurement policies relative to the ability of the construction sector to supply government subsidised housing. More specifically, the study describes and explores corruption, quality; contractors and worker competency, and government capacity as specific consequences of housing policy and practice incompatibility, as well as factors contributing to recipient dissatisfaction and the housing backlog. Finally, based on the finding, a proposed framework for improving the supply of subsidised housing in South Africa has been developed. The methodology for this study adopted a post-positivist philosophy, embracing a quantitative approach using questionnaires, which incorporated mainly five-point Likert type scale, but also multiple-choice questions, as instruments for data collection. Three surveys were conducted, starting with a pilot study and followed by a primary study, during which a total of 2 884 potential participants within the construction sector across South Africa were randomly sampled and solicited to participate, of which 284 responded. The respondents consisted of four groups: general contractors (76); government housing officials (34); built environment professionals (137), and built environment suppliers (37). An electronic questionnaire was sent by email to all potential participants and allowed four weeks to complete the survey. Furthermore, a housing recipient survey was conducted among 100 randomly selected recipients of government subsidised housing in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan area, by means of a structured interview using a paper based questionnaire, over a period of two weeks. The primary outcome measures used for this study were the ranked mean scores for mainly descriptive analysis and the Chi-square test, the 𝑡-test, Cohan’s d test, ANOVA and Scheffé test, using Cronbach's alpha as a measure of internal consistency of scale and validity, for inferential analyses and hypotheses testing. Hypothesis testing was founded upon Government’s worldview that its policies will not influence the operations of the construction sector relative to housing construction, and therefore tested respondents’ perspectives with respect to the impact that government policies have in terms of contractor operations and contractor success, as well as its contribution towards the housing backlog, substandard housing, recipient dissatisfaction and corruption. The following results were obtained by means of the hypothesis testing:Government housing procurement policies are inappropriate for application in the government subsidised housing sector. Respondents therefore disagree with the notion that government policy and practices do not impact contractor operations and contractor success, and thus the supply of houses; The application of government housing procurement policies leads to inadequate quality. Respondents therefore disagree with the notion that government preferential procurement policies do not impact quality; Government’s housing procurement policies inappropriately target emerging contractors. Respondents therefore disagree with the notion that Government’s targeting of emerging contractors does not impact housing supply; Government has inadequate capacity to address subsidised housing construction sector requirements in terms of housing projects. Respondents therefore disagree with the notion that Government has the capacity to address subsidised housing construction sector requirements in the supply of housing, and Government subsidised houses do not meet recipients’ expectations. Respondents therefore disagree with the notion that government subsidised houses do meet recipients’ expectations. It thus became apparent that housing supply is mostly inhibited by Government’s housing procurement policy, contributing to various factors, such as quality capability, contractor capability, systemic and administrative capacity, and resulting in recipient dissatisfaction. Using Pearson’s product moment correlation, a framework model was developed to illustrate the process flow, which revealed definitive statistical and practical relationships between these factors, and indeed reflects complex relationships between factors inhibiting supply and resulting in recipient dissatisfaction. To find an appropriate framework model for the purpose of improving housing supply, various sources were consulted. Based on the research question, together with the aims and objectives for this study, as well as the realisation that the problems associated with housing supply relate to the project management of the construction phase, which requires interventions for improving supply, it was decided that a results framework would be the most appropriate for this purpose. The proposed framework is therefore a graphical depiction of how the research process may be used to identify problems in the government subsidised housing sector, questioning how these may be resolved, setting strategies to improve the situation, evolving hypotheses and testing these hypotheses to establish the critical factors to be considered in the process of resolving the problem in the housing sector, by means of implementation and feedback.

Shelter is a basic human right that was recognised by the South African constitution and this led to the government's partnership with the private sector together with NGO's in responding to the huge housing demand for the poor. Due to the RDP's failure in delivering houses to the poor masses, the government introduced a social housing programme in Walmer, Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. The Walmer Link social housing programme has been able to give poor people an alternative than being backyard shack dwellers. The rental complex offers good quality housing with secured features at very low prices based on individual income. This initiative has been able to ease the pressure of providing houses to the poor from government and has also been able to lower poverty levels in the Port Elizabeth area.

M.Com. (Economics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

D.Phil. / Authors and researchers from disciplines studying the relationship between social processes and spatial patterns agree that the characteristics of society, specifically the divisions within society, are mirrored in the residential structure of the city. The transformation of the former into discernible patterns of residential differentiation is effected by four mechanisms. These are residential mobility, the housing market, institutions and socio-spatial engineering, i.e. the manipulation of social and spatial structures by those in power to achieve certain social and political-ideological goals. The purpose of this study is firstly, to analyse the functioning of the mechanisms which shape the residential structure and secondly, to describe the divisions in society, i.e. , the socio-political basis of the South African metropolis, against the backdrop of its spatial implications on the residential structure. Thirdly, to describe the characteristics of the structure in terms of its spatial patterns and distinctive characteristics and lastly, to construct an explanatory model of the structure...

M. Comm. / The aim of the study is to estimate the demand function for housing in South Africa (for the period 1989 to 1998). It is important to study the housing demand as housing demand contributes positively towards economic growth and economic stability. The main findings in chapter five show that all the estimated parameters have a significant role on the demand for housing loans in South Africa, as approved by multiple regression results. However, real interest rates have a more significant impact on the demand for home loans. The study therefore asserts that the real interest rates must be as low as possible as a way of stimulating housing demand, thus providing investment and in turn there will be an increase in economic growth. The study further and finally asserts that taxation must be decreased, as a way of stimulating disposable income thus there will be an increase in investment spending.

This study investigates the role of space and place in urban informal settlement upgrading. The key aim is a better understanding of the character and functionality of informal communities through their social processes. There is a large body of literature on the social, economic and spatial consequences of informal settlement’s ongoing role of housing the urban poor. This study uses an ethnographic approach to investigate the spaces and places which result from the need based social relations and political agency of the informal residents. This genre of need reflects Lefebvre’s description of the tangible and intangible necessities that contribute to individuals’ livelihood and well-being. The study explores the philosophical thinking around spatial production and the meaning of place. It builds on the works of Heidegger, Lefebvre, and Deleuze and Guattari who attribute value to everyday social process and its role in producing space. Deleuze and Guattariʼs relational language is used to articulate the fluidity with which informality engages formality through the rhythm, refrain, milieu and territorialisation of daily use, leading to a rethinking of boundary and edge. Critically, the study also draws on the historic and present elements of time as it relates to space for this group of thinkers. The time/space dynamics of hope lost through waiting for upgrading and hope gained through impatience, political agency and action, add layers of complexity to these spaces. Implied in the first dynamic is an acceptance of the status quo, passive inclusion into South Africaʼs democratic society through the eventual provision of housing. The second is an insurgent demand for socio-economic rights and societal transformation as guaranteed by the Constitution (Holston, 1998). The resultant qualitative data from two informal settlements in greater Johannesburg unravels the logic behind informal spatial production via relational connections which articulate space as a product of informal residents’ social actions. This spatial understanding suggests a shift away from current spatial models employed by the State in its formal provision of subsidised housing. At the same time, it strengthens informal communities’ role in the upgrading process by giving value to the social qualities of place in existing living environments.