Thesis presented in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Management (in the field of Public Sector Monitoring and Evaluation) to the Faculty of Commerce, Law, and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, March 2018 / The purpose of this research was to assess beneficiaries’ perceptions regarding improvements in their safety and residential quality of life following a housing intervention programme in Itsoseng Informal Settlement. Initially, this study interrogated literature to comprehend assessments carried out in various housing interventions. Maslow Hierarchy of Needs, Quality of Life Theory and Max- Neef Human Needs Theory of Development were the theoretical frameworks used to understand how beneficiaries perceived the upgrading programme. Improvement in their residential quality of life is realised through the possibilities that are available to satisfy their crucial needs. For this reason, this research focused on assessing the beneficiaries’ perceptions on their safety and residential quality of life following the upgrade programme. Univariate analysis, bivariate analysis, paired sample t-test statistics and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was utilised to analyse the perceptions of beneficiaries following a housing upgrade. The findings showed a good level of agreement between beneficiaries regarding their safety and residential quality of life, and there were no significant difference in the perceptions of male and female beneficiaries. Open-ended questions gave insight on the need to further improve beneficiaries’ satisfaction, particularly regarding services such as electricity, clinics, schools and safety walls. Pulling all these things together, the study highlighted the need to prioritise the preferences of beneficiaries, complemented by a comprehensive improvement on safety and residential quality of life to ensure user satisfaction. Insights from the findings further highlighted that holistic improvement in housing conditions, safety, basic services, building a good sense of belonging and tenure security is crucial and goes a long way towards enhancing improvement in the residential quality of life. This study facilitated the recommendations on improvement in the design of the houses in order to satisfy human needs rather than just focusing on the physical aspects of the house. This further allowed this study to emphasise that development is about people not objects, and that it is vital to steer the development process. / XL2019

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

Research report submitted in accordance with the degree Masters in Management University of the Witwatersrand Public and Development Management , July 2016 / Originally, hostels were developed to accommodate migrant labour in urban areas. With the abolishment of influx control laws in 1986, informal settlements mushroomed close to hostel precincts as relatives and those seeking affordable housing in proximity of employment opportunities flocked to urban areas. Overcrowding, poor maintenance of hostels and the vandalism of the infrastructure resulted in hostels deteriorating and becoming unfit for hygienic human habitation. From the early 1990’s, the government adopted a number of measures (housing programmes) aimed at rehabilitating hostels and converting them into family units. The Hostel Redevelopment Programme as implemented to date has led to upgraded units being built but not allocated to the intended beneficiaries (hostel residents). This failure was partly the result of communication breakdown between hostel communities and local communities. This study attempts to comprehend factors that led to project communication breakdown between the project team and the hostel community. The Johannesburg Housing Company (JOSHCO) is the implementation agent on behalf of the City of Johannesburg tasked with converting single gender hostel compounds into affordable rental units. The report suggested public participation as the suitable process to solve the problem of communication between different actors in the hostel project. The legal framework of public housing emphasises the importance of public participation in the programme of housing provision. The discourse on public participation conceptualises community participation broadly as a strategy aimed at empowering citizens to have a voice in policies decisions that have a bearing on their lives. The legal framework espouses the philosophy of citizen’s involvement in developmental matters having the right to having their views reflected in policy decisions. This study tries to understand the effectiveness of the hostel redevelopment programme public consultation processes in influencing housing option provided to the residents of Diepkloof Hostel and the Orlando West Women’s Hostel. The design of this study is conceptualised using Project Management principles or knowledge areas, focusing specifically on Project Communication. The researcher is of the view that improving the effectiveness of the public participation process, factors that result in the non- occupation of hostels can be avoided. With the massive housing backlog still prevalent in South Africa, consensus is required between all stakeholders (especially hostel residents) on the type of units that are acceptable to the hostel community to provide for successful allocation process, thereby resulting in a successful handing over of housing products that will be sustainable in terms of affordability and give recipients the dignity of adequate shelter. / MT 2018

Rooms’ and ‘spaces’ are two closely linked forms of accommodation where the unit of occupation and exchange is a portion of a larger building or property, within which services and facilities are shared. ‘Rooms’ and ‘spaces’ in the inner city represented two of very few typologies research participants were aware of that allowed them access to the livelihood opportunities Johannesburg had to offer. Through participant observation and qualitative interviews this study explores two buildings featuring informal rooms and spaces and one building featuring formal rooms and spaces in Johannesburg’s inner city. While formal rooms represented the most stable support to those specific occupants, there were several ‘barriers to entry’ including the prerequisite of a stable income. There was much to be learnt from the flexibility and diversity of rooms and spaces on the informal market, which enabled occupants to cope with insecure livelihood opportunities. The research demonstrated the incredible resilience of occupants in the face of an extreme shortage of affordable accommodation in Johannesburg’s inner city (Tissington, 2013). However, the findings suggested an adverse relationship between accommodation and livelihoods demonstrated by the three ‘forms’ of rooms and spaces, where the only form available to people with the least secure livelihoods is that which, in turn, subjects them to the greatest insecurity.

A research report submitted to the Department of Town and Regional Planning, School of Architecture and Planning, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment for the Degree of Master of Science in Housing / The influence of institutional rental housing policy (IRHP) on consumer choice in Johannesburg was evaluated through interviews with middle-income tenants and caretakers in Legae Gardens and JOSHCO Complex Two residences in reference to the Rental Act. Housing officials in Johannesburg Housing Company, Johannesburg Social Housing Company and Provincial Department of Housing were also interviewed. Primary data gained from interviews and observation of the residences and their surroundings was analysed based on Howard-Sheth and trade-off models of consumer choice and residential location respectively, with qualitativecomparative case study as the main research method. The IRHP has been translated into regeneration projects (institutional rentals (IRs) and infrastructure upgrading) and executed through planning principles such as mixed-use and neighbourhood safety based on national development goals (integration and sustainability). As affordable and quality IRs have been developed in preferable locations, this optimises consumer choice opportunities in terms of affordability, quality and location.

The growth of forced migration populations - i.e. the movement of people within and across national boarders as a result of conflicts, disasters, and development policies and projects - has been a defining feature of the twentieth century and will no doubt remain with us well into the twenty-first century (Rutinwa, 2001: 13). Literature searches suggest that the ‘refugee’ constitutes the most powerful label within the forced migration discourse. Published calculations regarding the number of refugees in the world at the end of 2008, range between 15.2 million (UNHCR, 2009: 2) and 13.6 million (World Refugee Survey, 2009: 33). The refugee experience of a small representative population of these figures namely, the Zimbabwean refugees living within the Central Methodist Church (CMC) or Central Methodist Mission (CMM) refugee community, in Johannesburg city centre is the concern of this treatise. From the perspective of the conflict management scholar, the informal and formal conflict management strategies adopted among and between the CMM refugees, have been studied. Analysis of existing literature, interviews conducted with the refugees, as well as hours of experience within the refugee community, substantiate the descriptive study that follows. Guided by the grounded theory approach, research findings have emerged out of the descriptions. The research findings in turn have founded the development of the recommendations that appear in the conclusion to the treatise.

Most hostels are being redeveloped through the Hostel Redevelopment Programme from single sex accommodation to rental (family) units. The study was conducted on the City Deep and Nobuhle Hostel Redevelopment Projects as implemented in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality (COJMM). Hostel Redevelopment Projects proved to contribute positively towards addressing the challenges and housing shortages in Johannesburg, Gauteng Province. There is a need for Government to plan other projects concurrently with the Hostel Redevelopment Projects as an attempt to deal with the displacees resulting from the Hostel Redevelopment Projects. Furthermore, there is also a need to redevelop each hostel in its totality as opposed to only a few phases of improvement. There is also a need for Government (COJMM) to design frameworks that will guide any proposed Hostel Redevelopment Project as an attempt to achieve uniformity. These frameworks need to include the management of the final product. Lastly, Government should make funding for the maintenance of public hostels available prior to hostels being redeveloped. / Public Administration / M. Tech. (Public Management)

Most hostels are being redeveloped through the Hostel Redevelopment Programme from single sex accommodation to rental (family) units. The study was conducted on the City Deep and Nobuhle Hostel Redevelopment Projects as implemented in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality (COJMM). Hostel Redevelopment Projects proved to contribute positively towards addressing the challenges and housing shortages in Johannesburg, Gauteng Province. There is a need for Government to plan other projects concurrently with the Hostel Redevelopment Projects as an attempt to deal with the displacees resulting from the Hostel Redevelopment Projects. Furthermore, there is also a need to redevelop each hostel in its totality as opposed to only a few phases of improvement. There is also a need for Government (COJMM) to design frameworks that will guide any proposed Hostel Redevelopment Project as an attempt to achieve uniformity. These frameworks need to include the management of the final product. Lastly, Government should make funding for the maintenance of public hostels available prior to hostels being redeveloped. / Public Administration and Management / M. Tech. (Public Management)

Thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Development Planning to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016 / The current increase in demand for accommodation in the Johannesburg northern suburbs is linked to the political and demographic changes that took place within South Africa post 1994. During this time there was a flight of affluent white South Africans away from what was then the centre of the country’s economy, the Johannesburg Central Business District (Garner, 2011). There has been an increase in the size of South Africa’s black middle class post 1994, due to the removal of racist legislation impeding the economic advancements of black South Africans, as well as due to the progressive affirmative action policies designed to fast track the advancement of black South Africans (Southall, 2016). Consequently, there has been a steady increase of black middle class people moving into the northern suburbs of Johannesburg. The study was conducted in the Sandton suburbs of Johannesburg, Gauteng. It sought to understand what factors have led to the increase in demand for accommodation in these suburbs from the black middle class. 27 interviews were conducted with participants in the case study areas of Illovo, Sandton Central Business District, Sandown, Bryanston and Sandhurst. The researcher made use of direct observations during the semi-structured interviews. The results showed that research in this area was imperative as it helped to explain the buying and renting patterns of the black middle class. This is important for property developers and the government because the black middle class is a fast growing economic subgroup within the country. This can impact on policy and property development in the country. The study found that the black middle class are moving to the northern suburbs for pragmatic reasons and that proximity to their places of work, proximity to amenities and security are the most important factors causing them to move. / MT2017

Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of the Built Environment (Housing), to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / Johannesburg like many rapidly urbanising cities around the world has the problem of a lack of affordable accommodation and inadequate access to basic services (Tissington, 2013). Residents in the inner city use spaces and buildings in a way that reclaims the promises of the city to a better life. As historian and cultural theorist Abdou Maliq Simone (2004) has noted people within African Cities have a probable tendency to improvise. In this research I use the concept of evolutionary resilience, which has been described to account for individuals and households ability adapt in constantly changing environments (Simmie & Martin, 2010) to explore the responses of residents to precarious living conditions and vulnerability that is created by conditions of insecure tenure and evictions. There is little comparative empirical research about how inner city residents talk about their lives and experiences. This research contributes to filling this gap by examining the experiences of residents and highlighting the ways in which as Cirugeda (2004) points to, residents often use empowerment strategies that encourage inhabitants to subvert laws and regulations, in order to maximise self-help by appropriating structures for better living conditions (Cirugeda 2004). This research utilises in depth interviews that were conducted within selected buildings in the inner city using a semi structured interview guide. The objective is to examine the strategies of coping with the exposure to risk and how individuals respond to these shocks. Şoitu (undated) states that vulnerability is a situation of social, economic and physiological need when individuals are marginalised and resilience is a personal resource that allows individuals to face stress and shocks and provides strength (Şoitu, undated). This research finds that there are many difficulties, threats and vulnerabilities that residents are exposed to and residents invoke various strategies and responses for coping. KEYWORDS ‘Bad buildings’, inner city, Johannesburg, vulnerability, evolutionary resilience, precarious living conditions, basic services, insecure tenure / XL2018