<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>

The Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program is the primary federal program for producing new units of affordable housing. The program provides financial incentives to private developers to develop and operate affordable rental housing. In recent years, evidence has emerged that the program has led to clusters of subsidized housing in some cities. It is hardly surprising that some clustering would exist in a program in which the housing is constructed and owned by private developers. Despite the significant number of units produced by the program and despite the potential tendency for clustering of units built under this program, the locational patterns within the LIHTC program remain largely unexamined. Instead, most studies of the LIHTC program have focused on the national level rather than on individual cities. In contrast to previous studies, this study seeks to improve our understanding of variations in the LIHTC program across cities. The hypothesis of this study is that, because private developers produce housing in the LIHTC program and because the factors that influence private developers vary across cities, there is likely to be significant variation in the locational patterns of LIHTC developments across cities. The results of this study show, among other things, that clustering of LIHTC properties exists in the study cities, this clustering is extreme in some cases, and the clusters are associated with high poverty tracts in some cities. Given the LIHTC program's emphasis on market-driven policies and a similar emphasis in some other federal housing programs, such findings will likely be applicable to other affordable housing programs.

Public and private actors have suggested using the community land trust (CLT) model as a remedy for a number of housing related issues. This is based primarily upon the documented successes of CLT homeownership programs. Some caution that the growth of CLTs and the increased use of the CLT model beyond homeownership may stretch organizations beyond their capacity or force them to consider how to provide stewardship and community control. The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) has been used by a handful of CLTs and there are reasons to believe that more CLTs may utilize it in the future. This thesis explores the opportunities and challenges that using LIHTC may present for CLTs through case studies with two different types of organizations--a grassroots CLT in Athens, GA and a nonprofit housing developer with a CLT program in Park City, UT--that have used it as a funding source.

Magister Artium - MA / Hunger is more than just a feeling, it is the lack of access to safe nutritious food, which in turn may result in anger towards government, low performance, sadness and a limited will to survive. Urban agriculture has been identified as a source of livelihood for many urban residents and could fundamentally change food insecure cities like Cape Town. The Philippi Horticultural Area (PHA) is one such place with an enormous amount of potential to assist the City of Cape Town (CCT) to overcome food insecurity challenges. The PHA is the focus of this thesis that aims to determine the impacts that housing and industrial developments in the PHA have had, and might have in the future, on food security in the Greater Cape Town Area (GCTA). The specific objectives of the study are as follows: (1) To investigate the urban agricultural distribution of the PHA; (2) to investigate agricultural facilitation, people empowerment and the use of land for agricultural purposes; (3) To determine the level of access to food for people within and around the PHA; and (4) To examine the links between the urban agricultural food sector and food production. Mixed method research was employed, hinging on the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) as the conceptual framework. Snowball sampling was used to select 68 participants who were interviewed. One key finding of the study showed that the PHA had a significant value to the participants, many of whom called the place ‘home’. Another finding is that urban agriculture provides fresh food produce to many local residents. In-depth discussions with officials and farmers, both commercial and small-scale farmers in the PHA, revealed that the PHA is a valuable portion of farmland, and contributes significantly towards food security in and around the PHA. With the use of the SLA as the conceptual framework, the study contributes towards other livelihood outcomes dependant on urban agriculture to improve access, availability and stability of food security within the PHA. Although urban agriculture is a minimal contributor to food security in the PHA, there are other benefits enjoyed by low-income communities such as food aid given by farmers to assist low-income housing communities, educational opportunities to enhance small growers in the PHA, small-scale community garden outreach and employment.

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 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

A presente pesquisa foca os programas de assistência técnica direcionada às melhorias habitacionais ofertados à população de baixa renda no Brasil, mais precisamente na cidade de Diadema, e em Cuba, na província de Holguín. O conceito de melhorias habitacionais presente nesse estudo abrange todas as intervenções realizadas em moradias existentes que visam à melhoria da condição de habitabilidade do espaço construído como a ampliação da área construída; a melhoria das condições de iluminação e de ventilação; a melhoria das instalações hidrossanitárias; a correção de patologias construtivas; entre outros. Dada a complexidade da questão e o universo da sua atuação, a pesquisa visa discorrer sobre a efetividade dos programas de assistência técnica de melhorias habitacionais voltados à população de baixa renda ao considerar o projeto personalizado, a escala de atuação alcançada e a relação do arquiteto com a população. Para tanto, foram avaliados dois programas governamentais, sendo eles: a segunda fase do Programa \"Tá Bonito\" da prefeitura de Diadema, município da Região Metropolitana de São Paulo, realizado no núcleo Vila Olinda, durante os anos de 2006 a 2008; e o Programa Arquitetos da Comunidade desenvolvido em Cuba desde 1994 com foco na atuação dos profissionais da província de Holguín. A partir das dificuldades enfrentadas pelos programas e das conquistas alcançadas pelos mesmos, analisaremos as duas propostas a partir de quatro aspectos ora apresentados: 1) as formas de divulgação dos programas e o acesso aos serviços; 2) a aproximação do arquiteto com a população; 3) a elaboração dos projetos personalizados e 4) os resultados e as limitações; a fim de vislumbrar elementos importantes que contribuam para a construção, pelos governos municipais, de uma metodologia de assistência técnica de melhorias habitacionais voltada ao atendimento da população de baixa renda. / This research focus on the technical assistance programs for home improvements directed to lowincome dwellers in Brazil, more precisely in the Brazilian city of Diadema and in the province of Holguín, in Cuba. The concept of home improvement herein adopted encompasses all building interventions carried out in existent dwellings aimed to improve the indoor living conditions such as the increase of the built area; the improvement of lighting and ventilation conditions; the improvement of the hydrosanitary installations; the correction of building pathologies; among others. Given these issues\' complexity and the broadness of their action, this research aims to discuss the effectiveness of such programs considering customized project design, scale and the relationship between architect and dwellers. For such, two governmental programs were assessed: the second phase of the Program \"Tá bonito\" (It is Beautiful) from the municipal government of Diadema, State of São Paulo (Brazil), carried out in the settlement of Vila Olinda from 2006 to 2008; and the Program Architects of the Community developed in Cuba since 1994 with a focus on the work of the professionals of Holguín province. From the difficulties faced by these programs and their achievements, the two programs are assessed in the following four aspects: 1) the ways of publicizing the programs and the access to their services; 2) the approximation of the architect with the dwellers; 3) the custom-made project designs; and 4) their results and limitations in order to identify important elements to contribute to the elaboration of a technical assistance methodology for home improvements directed to low-income dwellers by municipal governments.

While the market of high-class apartment in Vietnam remains rather „quiet‟, the medium and low-price apartment segments are attracting investors‟ interest and becoming scarce because the demand is growing faster than the supply (VietRees,2009). Moreover, apartments for low-income people draw the attention of more buyers due to reasonable price matching their affordability.Investors in Vietnam have begun to re-consider the market and found out a great demand for accommodation from low-income population. Most of them are from different provinces in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) so they don‟t have proper houses. According to a recent statistics, more than 80% of HCMC citizens in the age range from 18 to 35 have to live with their family; more than 90% of the immigrated young people have to live in rented houses; more than 30% of the total number of families have to live in houses of less than 36m2; thousands of families have to live in houses below minimum standards (Xay Dung, 2009). Most of the rest have to rent houses with very poor living conditions. Especially, the majority of Vietnam populations who are young, dynamic and usually rush to big cities for jobs having high demand to own an apartment even when they are still single. Hence, we can see that the housing market for low-income earners is full of potential and quite attractive.~ ii ~By modeling main risk factors in Monte-Carlo simulation on financial performance of the project in HCMC, the findings demonstrate that the period of loan and apartment selling price (positive risk factors) make financial performance of the project increase faster than other risk factors (including inflation rate) that decrease the profit of the project. Besides policies and flexible financial systems, risk management should be implemented regularly to control these risk factors from the beginning to the end of the project. Therefore, I could support the entrepreneurs to plan economic strategy specifically and effectively such as recommending how to make both state-owned and private projects successful and create profits for investors at an acceptable degree of risks as well as how to bring accommodation to low-income people with reasonable prices.The project will provide accommodations for approximately 2000 people. This number may not be large enough to create a significant social impact. However, if this business model and my research bring to good result, making benefits for its inhabitants and profits for the investors, it can be multiplied in larger scale and scope, hence creating more practical socio-economic benefits. It can be said that this project is the seed, laying premises for bigger project afterwards.For these reasons, I hope that this study is useful not only to investors, researchers, and low-income people in Vietnam but also to those in Sweden.

Despite the attention given to the role of the housing market in the constitution and duration of low-income minority neighborhoods in American cities, little is known about the inner-workings of the housing market within these neighborhoods. The kind of housing professionals that populate this local economic world, the strategies they develop, both orthodox and unorthodox, especially towards tenants, are deemed of little interest by the dominant perspectives in the field, Human Ecology and Political Economy. The shared intellectual movement behind these two widely different theoretical perspectives is to understand how the city is mapped, how people and activities come to be distributed in space across the city. In this agenda, low-income minority areas are seen as a residual geographical entity, something whose existence is the effect of external forces: real estate brokers who steer households according to race, white ethnic immigrants who flee to the suburbs, white middle-class youths who gentrify the inner-city, downtown elites who disinvest from low-income minority neighborhoods. To focus on local actors of the housing market who operate within low-income minority neighborhoods requires a shift away from the traditional question of spatial distribution. Instead of framing the housing market as a spatial mechanism, this research looks at the housing market as a set of varied economic circuits that plug into a local social life with the goal of extracting money out of a local population's housing needs. In this view, the empirical questions are the variety of economic circuits in which the poor and near-poor minorities are embedded; the economic roles that define these various circuits; the strategies that are adequate, both for housing actors and for the local population; the opportunities for upward mobility and the risks of downward mobility they offer; the experience of hardship that emerges from these circuits. In brief, the key issue is how the different modes of organization of a local housing field (a term more open to variations than "market") participate to the local process of economic differentiation in low-income minority neighborhoods. The process under study can be conceived as the mutual shaping between two linked ecologies (Abbott 2005). On one hand, there are small and independent local housing professionals. For these actors, the issue is: how can they meet the specific challenges and seize the specific profits that stem from the economic project of making money out of the housing needs of poor and near-poor minorities? On the other hand, there is the ecology of the local population living in these neighborhoods. This population is internally differentiated by class and by a myriad of support networks, which may include formal organizations, such as lawyers, community based organizations, religious organizations, or legal aid societies. For this population, the key question is: how to benefit best from the housing field they face with the variety of resources at their hands? The interactions of these two ecologies with the larger regulatory framework shape the economic circuits that make up the housing field in low-income minority neighborhoods. The outcome of such interactive process can be approached from the inside - i.e. the inner-workings of the economic circuits as seen by those who derive money from them. It can also be seen from the outside - i.e. the economic structures that people living in these communities face. For almost three years (2009-2012), I was embedded into an informal group of housing actors operating in central Brooklyn and central Harlem, NY. This group is made of small landlords, larger real estate investors, independent real estate brokers, several housing lawyers and a criminal lawyer, construction workers and handymen, local community leaders, and, more marginally, New York City agents and bureaucrats and tenants. My research is an ethnographic study of this group, which I call "Larry's clique". It yielded three main results. First, the local housing field in low-income minority neighborhoods is segmented between the "housing market" and the "housing game". In the "housing market" economic dynamics fall within the boundary of institutional regulations. Roles and strategies are encapsulated in common terms like "tenant", "landlord", "housing lawyer", "real estate broker" etc. Next to this institutionalized housing market, exists a predatory segment, which, following the people I have observed, I call the "housing game". In this second segment, institutionally-proscribed modes of making money are common, formal economic roles are transformed and new categories emerge such as "the professional tenant", "the foolish landlord", "the predatory machine", "the tenant who plays the game right"; new boundaries between fair and unfair business practices are drawn; and the texture of ordinary economic transactions is not one of middle-class doux-commerce, but one of incivility and verbal violence. Second, the housing game sheds a new light on the local economic life in which poor and near-poor minorities are embedded. I have observed the formation of patrons-clients ties between local housing actors of the "game" and the local population. Patron-clients ties are a classic structure in the social scientific literature. However, it is a vocabulary that has disappeared from the scholarship on the contemporary forms of American poverty and near-poverty. My research brings back this vocabulary. Associated to this form of relation is a particular experience of hardship. The poor and near-poor who come in contact with the housing game experience the world as full of concealed riches that can be unlocked through personal yet distrustful relations of dependency. In this worldview, people shift quickly from being friend to being foe, double-agents are constant worries, simple questions as who works for whom receive unstable answers, and hubristic anger and joy accompany expectations of high rewards, of rainfalls of money, and feelings of being robbed. In this deeply personalistic worldview, something key is obliterated from the eyes of the people: it is the marginality of most of the actors I have observed from larger formal organizations and bureaucracies that chiefly affect the distribution of economic rewards in the housing market. Third, the housing game is not a well-ordered underworld in the tradition of the Chicago School. It is not a sub economic system with its own parallel culture and practices. The real mode of existence of this economic world has much less substance. Economic actors in the housing game are haunted by feelings of inefficacy and amateurism. Beyond the scams, the predatory attempts, the shouts and the insults in Housing Court, beyond the moralizing discourses about who "abuses the system" and who deserves to be "fucked", beyond all this gesticulation, people of the game have the nagging feeling of being stalled. The economic life of the housing game fights by all means necessary the actors' creeping experience of passivity, helplessness, and low self-efficacy - but it is not always successful. The vocabulary of the "game" indicates not only the distance with the institutionalized housing market, but also the dramaturgy of this economic world, the layers of meaning and symbolic practices that cover up, but only in part, the fact that the game does not fully work, does not bring the expected rewards. The concealed riches of the world remain out of reach. The intellectual posture behind this research is the reconstruction of economic categories through intimate ethnographic observations. Such reconstruction requires an epoch (i.e. a suspension) of the common modes of description of economic life inherited from both economics and legal studies and from the regulatory framework that supervises the "market". This research is the occasion, then, to interrogate the place of rich narratives and close descriptions in the study of economic life.

City governments across the United States are struggling to keep housing and services affordable for lower-income households as neighborhood conditions improve in previously disinvested areas. Despite considerable fiscal and political constraints, numerous cities are tackling this challenge through policy tools that protect the stock of low-cost housing and support lower-income residents’ ability to remain in place when reinvestment raises the threat of displacement. Drawing on a framework informed by theories of equity planning, the Just City, and redistributive policy action, this study examines how cities are mitigating displacement in neighborhoods at risk of gentrification and analyzes the conditions that motivate, facilitate, and shape their policy responses. Data were collected through an original survey of housing, planning, and community development officials, a systematic review of policy documents, and semi-structured interviews with city officials and community advocates. Through sequential quantitative and qualitative analyses, I show that although city governments possess and are using diverse tools to create more equitable outcomes in neighborhoods at risk of gentrification, their tendency to delay action until market appreciation is advanced, dependence on market-based tools amid fiscal constraint, and need to balance neighborhood-based and city-wide goals weaken their capacity to tackle displacement. This study concludes that proactive approaches that address reinvestment and long-term affordability concurrently would minimize the tensions associated with the timing, form, and scale of intervention. Cities’ demonstrated responsiveness to community organizing suggests one key channel through which such a policy shift could be activated.