Abstract not available. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1998.

The period between the nineteen fifties and the seventies in South Africa witnessed the emergence of a central state housing policy incorporating large scale mass housing for Black people in delineated Group Areas based on segregated racial zoning policies originally initiated in Durban. During this period the local state in Durban began to exercise the responsibility assigned to it since 1920 by providing the previously neglected housing for Coloureds and Indians. As a case-study detailing the origins of the Indian township of Phoenix this study explores how power is exercised at the local level. It focuses on local representation and accounts for the growth in bureaucratic power and subsequent decline of the City Council regarding matters of housing in Durban. The study argues that in order to conceptualise the 'local state' and its 'relative autonomy' from the central state it is necessary to analyse local social relations. As such the study focusses on the power relations existing between the City Council and the bureaucracy; the City Council and the Indian community; and the bureaucracy and The Natal Estates Ltd. Data have been drawn from primary sources including municipal records and oral interviews, and from secondary sources which have provided the historical context for the study. The relationship between the City Council and the bureaucracy has been found to have been dominated not only by the technical expertise and resources of the bureaucracy, but also by the intervention of powerful personalities holding senior positions within the bureaucracy. Both the City Council and the bureaucracy proved to have been instrumental in ensuring that opposing demands from the various sectors of the Indian community did not interfere with their plans for housing at Phoenix. In the same manner, the bureaucracy's determination to maintain control over housing and ensure the reproduction of urban labour power led to the cooperation of the local, regional and central state levels, which forced Natal Estates into protracted land negotiations where the Company was finally pressurised into selling under threat of central state expropriation. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1987.

This thesis set out to examine the application of the supporter paradigm in the incremental housing process in South Africa, and the way support for housing consolidation has been orchestrated in practice. It aimed to determine the forms of housing support that constitute preconditions of housing consolidation in the South African low income housing context. The supporter paradigm upon which post-apartheid housing policy is based takes its cue from the proponents of self-help housing, and the institutions that have entrenched it internationally. It outlines the housing support actions that would enable poor households to achieve housing adequacy incrementally . In South Africa, such households would constitute housing subsidy beneficiaries, seeking to achieve housing 'depth' through the process of housing consolidation, where the national subsidy programme would primarily only have delivered housing 'width' , or housing starts. Contrary to the expectations of the policy, the pace of housing consolidation has been slow, and the standard of the resultant housing poor. The thesis ' point of departure is that households which have not improved their dwellings, or whose improvement efforts have only yielded temporary housing, continue to experience housing inadequacy, despite subsidy support. This outcome contradicts the policy 's goal of enabling households to reach housing adequacy. That subsidy support is but one of a number of supports needed to enable housing consolidation is acknowledged by current policy. This study critiques the way support has been lent to households in consolidating situations conceptually and empirically. Conceptually, the study analyses the international and South African policy discourse around the support approach to housing delivery, as well as looks at some precedents in housing support practice internationally for useful lessons. Empirically, the study makes use of qualitative and quantitative research instruments to examine and analyse the housing support experience in three different types of incremental housing projects, located in eThekwini municipality, in the KwaZulu Natal Province of South Africa . The housing support findings are analysed within the context of what both the housing policy and the study 's key informants consider to be a holistic packaging of housing support, that should be attendant to any incremental housing project. On the basis of the study's findings, housing support practice is critiqued on two levels. At policy level, the study reveals that the foundation of South African housing policy in a neoliberal context, in the absence of support targeted at improving the incomes of the mainly very poor beneficiaries, sets them up for failure in their housing improvement efforts. At the implementation level, the study identifies three key areas of weakness. Firstly, there is absence of strategic direction at the National level, resulting in the treatment of housing support as an optional function by the housing implementation levels. Secondly, most housing authorities experience difficulty in understanding what housing support entails, because of its multifaceted nature and lack of specificity . Consequently, the support attendant to incremental housing projects is ad hoc and intermittent in nature, and is delivered on the basis of how the particular authorities or project staff understand housing support. As a result, in any given project, housing support is rarely comprehensively packaged. It is also largely an unfunded mandate. Thirdly, at project level, the thesis establishes that many of the problems that confront consolidating households can be attributed to projects that are poorly planned from the outset, and that support in this regard lies in the development of capacity at municipal level, to plan projects that have the potential to be consolidated in the first instance. As its main contribution, the thesis develops a multidimensional, comprehensive framework for packaging housing support. One dimension specifies upfront, the support elements considered important in the pre- and post-subsidy phases of the project, as well as in the project implementation phase. The exact form these would take in any project would be informed by the project and beneficiary characteristics. The second dimension packages the institutional roles for housing support, thereby removing the institutional ambivalence towards the housing support function, and specifying the institutional and role changes needed to enable housing support to occur. The third dimension packages support according to project type, indicating which forms of support apply to all types of projects, and which to specific modes of delivery in the South African context. The study concludes that while current housing policy is clear on the need to support households to meet consolidation goals, specificity of both process and actions needs to be lent to housing support practice. The multidimensional support package developed by the study is deemed a useful tool in providing such specificity, and clarifying how support for housing consolidation in South Africa should be set up in both policy and practice. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

This study focuses on urban transformation that has taken place in the post-apartheid South African city. In particular it examines the role that estate agents play in urban transformation in the setting of two adjacent former white neighbourhoods of Glenwood and Umbilo. During apartheid, racial superiority coupled with discriminatory legislation meant that estate agents worked in a racially structured market. A review of related literature suggests that operations of estate agents are crucial to the achievement of mixed neighbourhoods as they can be both gatekeepers and agents of change. While a lot has been said about urban transformation in the new South Africa, there exists a literature gap on the role that estate agents play in this transformation. The study therefore explores what estate agents’ and black homeowners’ perspectives and experiences are on the issue of urban transformation. Ten interviews were conducted with estate agents and another ten with black homeowners. One interview was also conducted with the ward Councilor with a goal of obtaining their view of the change that has been experienced in the two neighbourhoods. The findings from the study suggest that there has been a significant change in the operations of estate agents and this has been necessitated by, and resulted in, urban transformation. The change in the operations of the estate agents has been in line with changes in both the economic and political spheres which shape the post-apartheid era. Estate agents have incorporated the new changes in their operations and property ownership and transfer is now done on an affordability basis rather than on racial consideration. However, areas of contestation still exist. Property purchases within a particular ownership arrangement called share block have resulted in some difficulties for purchasers both from the controlling companies of these blocks and also in terms of securing financing from banks. It is crucial to note, however, that black homeowners view estate agents as having undergone tremendous restructuring and have been the major agents of urban transformation in the new South Africa. Residential racial mixing has not been followed by racial integration, a view that is shared by estate agents and black homeowners, but neighbourhoods are thought to be fairly harmonious. / Thesis (M.Dev.Studies)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

Disparities between housing, water and sanitation policy initiatives continuously undermine the efforts of informal settlements upgrading programme of transforming living conditions of people living in informal settlements. The objective of this research project was to explore the disparities between the above mentioned policy initiatives in informal settlements upgrading with the view to develop an understanding of various elements leading to these disparities. To achieve this research two case study areas were selected from which data was collected. The case studies were selected purposively. Household surveys were conducted from each of the two case studies and interviews were conducted with housing, water and sanitation officials. Findings of the research indicate that there are indeed disparities between housing, water and sanitation. It indicated that the disparities manifested themselves at various levels of policy. The nature of these disparities also varied according to the level at which they manifested. The research concludes that disparities in housing, water and sanitation manifest themselves in informal settlement upgrading. Various levels of policy indicate the manifestation of these disparities. Informal settlement upgrading efforts are undermined by the lack of coordination and integration in the implementation of policy. The research therefore recommends adjustments from all levels of policy from formulation to implementation. Housing, water and sanitation policy formulation process should be conducted in an integrated and coordinated manner. All parties involved in policy development and implementation should adopt high level of communication and consultation on all policy related issues. Policy objectives should be consolidated. / Thesis (M.Housing)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

This study examines the case for in-situ upgrading of informal settlements. The housing delivery process as set out in the housing policy has been slow and, to an extent, qualification for subsidy has tended to exclude some sections of the society. The main objective of the study is to identify the social, economic and physical characteristics of informal settlements that would justify in-situ upgrading as opposed to relocation of the residents to a Greenfield development. Both primary and secondary sources of data were utilised in data collection. The research confirmed residents of Barcelona 1 need proper houses with basic services. The general use of land; is also problematic, there are no roads and the residents walk in between shacks to access their sites. Living conditions in Barcelona 1 do not match up with what is proposed in the recent Breaking New Ground (BNG) policy initiative, which states that everyone should have access to sustainable human settlement conditions with basic services such as water, electricity and sanitation. Community Based Organizations (CBOs) focus on assisting the community with socio-economic activities, and have contributed in the development of the settlement by providing training skills workshops on small business and issues concerning HIV/AIDS. The present study sees a need for the settlement to be upgraded on site, in preference to other options less favourable to people’s needs, such as greenfield development which disrupts social and economic networks when people are relocated far from their workplaces and burdened with added transportation costs. By comparison, in-situ upgrading will create minimal disruption for the inhabitants of the settlement. Among the recommendation put forward is that the government, the housing department, non-government organisation and community based organisations should all intervene in the upgrading of informal settlements. The study concludes with none of the development promised by the government having yet taken place in the study area, any forthcoming housing policy implementation should take account of the impact of different development option on informal settlements. It can be argued that government and the housing department alike have failed to satisfy housing demand in South Africa, since people continue to suffer from inadequate housing. Secondly, in-situ upgrading rather than relocation to Greenfield where feasible should be the preferred from development option given the social, economic benefits and networks of existing informal settlements. / Thesis (M.Housing)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Most low cost housing beneficiaries either work in the informal sector with little income to meet all their basic needs, or do not work at all. They live in poverty because many of them are unskilled, unemployed, poorly represented economically, politically and socially. Hence the new South African Housing Policy is said to be enabling the housing environment to play a more meaningful role in job creation and employment sustainability. This is said to be achieved through skills transfer and giving support to small businesses which are geared towards more labour intensive opportunities. Job creation, in the context of this study, means training ,and the use of housing beneficiaries in housing construction. The provision of skills enhances beneficiaries to engage in self-employment programmes. Sustainability, on the other hand, looks at the use of dwelling units for small business purposes, the proximity of housing projects in relation to areas of employment, and the transfer of skills from place to place when required. After conducting a survey of 98 beneficiaries, the study revealed a lack of an effective mechanism for job creation and employment sustainability within greenfields housing projects. In order to provide both guidelines and recommendations for the effective implementation of housing projects, this dissertation assesses the extent to which greenfields housing projects have been able to create and sustain employment opportunities for housing beneficiaries. Case studies used to assess this aspect are Wiggins uMkhumbane in Cato Manor and Westrich in Newlands West. This study outlines failures and successes in the manner in which the above mentioned housing projects were implemented in relation to the creation and sustainability of income generating activities. This dissertation is structured as follows: The first chapter introduces the research problem, research question hypothesis, and the research method used to conduct the study. The second chapter provides both the conceptual framework and the literature review for the topic being investigated. International, national and local case studies are used to support the flow of the argument. Chapter three introduces the geographical and historical background of case studies in which the study was conducted. This historical background is linked to the topic of study to help to understand the phenomenon of employment. Chapter four deals with the presentation and analysis of data collected. The conclusion drawn from the findings and recommendations are found in chapter five. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

Informal settlement areas (often referred to as squatter settlements or squatter camps) exist in all provinces of South Africa. These areas are characterized by rapid and unplanned development. The result of these is that property boundaries in most of these areas are not surveyed. Since the plots do not have boundary beacons, the land parcel is not properly defined and therefore, the property cannot be registered in the user or owner's name. Consequently, ownership is not guaranteed. Thus there are no legal documents to prove the relationship between an individual and the property. This paper discusses the problems in the land reform process that can be attributed to the existence of informal settlements. The paper is based on a research carried out to assess the effect of informal settlements on the success of the land reform programme in South Africa. A review of literature on the land reform programme and its implementation plan was carried out. The research also included a literature review on informal settlements in relation to property ownership, cadastral surveying and land registration. Three informal settlements in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa were identified for study. These included Cato Manor and Umlazi section CC in Durban and Peace Valley 2 in Pietermaritzburg. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

In 1994, the South African government set in place an ambitious plan to reduce the housing backlog and eradicate slums by 2012. The delivery of housing is subject to the South African National Environmental Management Act of 1998 that seeks to ensure sustainable resources use towards sustainable development of all activities. However, the question is whether or not reality matches the policy’s vision. One concern which arises is that the high demand for housing and the speed with which delivery of low-cost housing is occurring may compromise the environment. This study examines the challenges of implementing environmental policy requirements in low-cost-housing, using the case study of Ambleton in the Msunduzi Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In attempting to assess the challenges of implementing environmental management policy requirements of the housing policy of 1994 and NEMA of 1998, four key challenges were identified: understanding environmental policy requirements, institutionalising capacity and cooperation, resolving conflict of values among stakeholders, and recognising budget constraints. The key participants in the study were officials from the provincial departments of Housing and the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs, Msunduzi Municipal officials who implement the policy, including the Ward Councillor of Ambleton and the Service Provider. The methodology used to gather data was observation, in-depth interviews, and document review. It was revealed in the study that the understanding of policy requirements amongst key stakeholders is limited and that the institutional capacity is limited in terms of skills, coordination, and physical capacity. Different priorities of stakeholders play a major role in budget and priority setting by government, which affect the implementation of environmental policy requirements. It was pointed out by municipal staff that there is a shortage of funds for meeting all environmental policy requirements. Also explored were possibilities for improving environmental policy implementation. These include making environmental policy requirements in housing and NEMA more explicit to enhance stakeholders’ understanding, and enforcing compliance by environmental monitoring and audits. There is also a need for increased capacity building as well as improving coordination for better implementation of environmental policy requirements in low-cost housing. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.