No description available.

With homelessness continuing to rise over the past two decades, disenfranchised unhoused people have sparked a national movement to build for themselves democratically governed communities of affordable housing. Dignity Village, in Portland Oregon, is one of the longest running and most organized self-help housing communities in the nation. This paper presents a theoretical systems-based model of a developmental pathway out of homelessness in the U.S. that has as one of its key steps membership and participation in humane and dignified "self-help micro-housing"; communities such as Dignity Village. This research involved working collaboratively with Dignity Village on a participatory action research (PAR) project aimed at understanding and facilitating processes for mobilizing community and socio-political engagement. The research process involved a team of up to 24 co-researchers (nine attended meetings regularly) working once weekly over 15 months, with consultation from the broader Village community throughout. The research followed a systems approach to creating five action tools as multiple points of leverage to create long-term positive change within the community. One point of leverage utilized participatory video methodology to co-create a video action tool as an orientation video for newcomers, intended to build cooperative relationships and facilitate empowerment within the community. The impact of the research process was documented on multiple levels in the community using multiple data sources. Data were analyzed using an inductive approach to identify key themes and processes that influenced participation and empowerment in the community. The predominant themes suggested three paradoxical tensions that were creating barriers to change in the community. This PAR process attempted to create movement beyond these barriers. Findings suggested that four main changes occurred in the community during and after the research: a) an increase in collaborative participation, b) enhanced engagement and sense of community, c) an emergence of critical consciousness, and d) changes in the organizational leadership/power structure. These findings are critically examined and discussed with respect to the effectiveness of utilizing this PAR process to facilitate community empowerment. A portion of this dissertation (Results section) was created in video format to enhance report accessibility for community partners and other non-academic audiences.

Colonias are low-income settlements on the US-Mexico border characterized by poor infrastructure, minimum services, and an active housing construction with a high self-help and self-management component. Housing in colonias is very diverse showing house forms that include temporary and permanent structures, campers, trailers or manufactured houses and conventional homes. Most of this housing does not meet construction standards and codes and is considered substandard. Colonias households are also of diverse nature and composition including single households, nuclear and extended families, as well as multiple households sharing lots. This wide variety of house forms and households in colonias fits poorly within the nuclear household, single family detached housing idealized by conventional low-income housing projects, programs and policies. As a result, colonias marginally benefit from the resources available to them and continue to depend mostly on the individual efforts of their inhabitants. This research identifies the housing diversity and the process of housing consolidation in colonias of the US-Mexico border by looking at the patterns of house form and household arrangements in colonias of South Texas. Ten colonias located to the east of the city of Laredo along Highway 359 in Webb County, Texas were selected based on their characteristics, data availability and accessibility. Data collected included periodic aerial images of the colonias spanning a period of 28 years, household information from the 2000 census disaggregated at the block level for these colonias, and information from a field survey and a semi structured interview made to a random sample of 123 households between February and June 2007. The survey collected information about house form and household characteristics. The survey also incorporated descriptive accounts on how households completed their house from the initial structure built or set on the lot until the current house form. Data was compiled and analyzed using simple statistical methods looking for identifiable patterns on house form and household characteristics and changes over time. Findings showed that housing in colonias is built and consolidated following identifiable patterns of successive changes to the house form. Findings also showed that households in colonias share characteristics that change over time in similar ways. These results suggest similarities of colonias with extra-legal settlements in other developing areas. Based on these findings, the study reflects on possible considerations that could improve the impact of projects, programs and policies directed to support colonias and improve colonias housing.

In Conakry, the capital city of Guinea, more than two thirds of the housing stock consists of self-built housing. Self-built housing is the result of uncoordinated choices of households who buy land, decide the kind of houses and on-site facilities to build and implement their projects often without compliance with land use management policies. As a result this type of housing causes considerable environmental problems that affect the city population as a whole. Unless Conakry local authorities, i.e. communes develop capacities to design and carry out technically and financially appropriate strategies to address and improve households individual actions, the city's environmental conditions will continue to deteriorate. On the basis of lessons learned from theories and successful experiences of self-built housing improvement, the present creative project suggests general and specific guidelines, that commune officials can employ to develop the said capacities and generate substantial changes of housing conditions in Conakry. / Department of Urban Planning

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration in Project Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018. / According to Section 26 (1) of the constitution of Republic of South Africa, everyone has a right to have a satisfactory house to restore and honour the dignity of the South Africans. However South African government implemented several housing programmes to bridge the gap of housing backlog in South Africa. One of the housing programmes that South African government implemented is People Housing Process (PHP). It was approved in 1998 by South African government. South African government shifted focus on the quality of houses and mainly focused on the quantity of houses delivered through the financial year. There have been a lot of quality complaints on PHP. The quality defects are signs of foundation failures, cracks on foundations, water flooding around the houses, water not properly channelling to the drain, cracks on walls, dampness of walls, mould on walls, water seeping through the windows, poorly applied external plaster, incorrect bonding of internal walls to external walls, walls that are not straight walls, sagging ceiling panels, gable not properly filled with mortar, roof structure not properly tied up, sagging roof coverings, roof leaks, sagging roof tiles and ridges, rust on painted iron material, poor quality of blocks used, insufficient cement on mortar mix and peeling off paint. National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) are the custodians of the home building industry. They were excluded from PHP from 1998 till March 2012. NHBRC was approved to inspect PHP house in April 2012. Thus, the aim of the study was to compare the houses that were built before NHBRC involvement in PHP with those that were built after NHBRC involvement in PHP. The sample included 50% of each of the two groups (those in houses built without NHBRC involvement and those built with NHBRC involvement), the research involved at least 50 respondents per group (McMillan, et al 2001:177 – recommends 15 respondents per group). The sample size per group has been put at 50 since the larger the sample the higher the accuracy. The study is classified as quantitative research because it intended to quantify the variation in occurrence, situation, problem or issue; the information was gathered using predominantly quantitative variables and the analysis was geared to ascertain the magnitude of the variation. The findings of the study revealed that the quality of the houses that were built under PHP programme before NHBRC intervention on PHP was not up to standard however the quality on those that were built after NHBRC involvement improved. Therefore it is recommended for Western Cape government to implement the rectification programme which was approved by National Department of Human Settlements in 2009 mainly focusing on houses that have been severely structurally compromised and are regarded as unfit for human habitation as it poses a threat to the health and safety of the occupants (The National Housing Code, 2009: 11-13).

The purpose of this study is to conduct an outcome assessment of emancipated foster youth, who have completed aftercare services with the agency, Cameron Hill Associates.

No description available.

Die Arbeit beschreibt im Kontext eines gesellschaftspolitischen und sozialräumlichen Wandels Prozesse der Ausgrenzung benachteiligter Bevölkerungsgruppen am Beispiel eines Marginalviertels, der Villa Itatí in Buenos Aires. In Form der Beschreibung der Effekte des Lebensortes Villa Itatí, der Effekte seines materiell-physischen Substrates, seiner Sozialstruktur sowie seines symbolischen Systems, sollen die ambivalenten Wirkungen einer Ausgrenzung dargestellt werden. Der Lebensort wird als Beschränkung und gleichzeitige Ressource gesellschaftlicher Teilhabe bewertet. Als Planer in einem städtebaulichen und soziologischen Verständnis erfasse ich damit den Status Quo als Ausgangslage, um darauf aufbauend Möglichkeiten und Grenzen einer verändernden, integrativen Planung zu erörtern. Die Erkenntnisse aus einem fremdkulturellen Kontext sollen dabei in die hiesige Diskussion um Ausgrenzung bzw. um Quartiere der Ausgrenzung eingebunden werden. Die vorhandenen Daten basieren zum überwiegenden Teil auf einem Feldforschungsaufenthalt vor Ort. Sie wurden mittels einer Kombination verschiedener qualitativer Methoden erhoben: einer teilnehmenden Beobachtung im Feld im Sinne einer ethnographischen Feldforschung, ergänzt durch leitfadengestützte Interviews mit Bewohnern und Schlüsselfiguren des Viertels sowie verschiedenen externen Experten mit professioneller Beziehung zur Villa Itatí. Daneben wurde, gleichbedeutend, die räumliche Gestalt und Einbindung sowie die infrastrukturelle Ausstattung des Viertels im Sinne einer städtebaulichen Bestandsaufnahme kartiert und durch Fotografie illustriert. Ergänzt werden die vor Ort erhobenen Daten durch eine Auswertung von Zeitungsartikeln zur Villa Itatí sowie einer Sekundäranalyse vorhandener Datenquellen.

Les difficultés d’accès à un logement décent, le coût exorbitant des matériaux de construction dits « nobles » ainsi que l’absence des filières de production foncière et immobilière en RDCONGO ont motivé cette recherche orientée vers l’utilisation des matériaux locaux – et en particulier la terre crue – en vue de contribuer à la résorption des problèmes d’habitat auxquels font face la plupart des populations vivant en zone périurbaine congolaise.<p><p>Cette thèse démontre qu’il est possible, à travers l’autoconstruction – procédé utilisé par plus de 80% de ménages congolais pour produire leurs logements – ,d’améliorer l’habitat dans ce pays en partant de la zone périurbaine. On peut donc, à partir des propositions faites dans cet espace idéalement localisé entre les zones urbaine et rurale, envisager des répercutions positives au sein de ces deux zones qui lui sont contiguës.<p><p>L’observation constitue la principale méthodologie utilisée. <p>Des enquêtes menées sur quelques 930 logements situés au sein de trois sous zones climatiques de la RDCONGO ont permis, suivant 29 critères principaux appliqués sur 3 différents paliers (la maison, la parcelle et le quartier) d’engranger plus de 100 000 (cent mille) données reprises dans les annexes à la présente et offrant la possibilité d’extrapoler les résultats obtenus sur l’ensemble du territoire de la RDCONGO.<p><p>Inventaire des intelligences et connaissances locales relatives à l’utilisation du matériau terre en construction (Savoirs et Pratiques Populaires « SPP »), espaces engendrés par les architectures de terre en RDCONGO, cartographies des constructions en terre en RDCONGO, maisons périurbaines autoconstruites en adobes, modélisation d’un lotissement de 200 logements réalisables en terre crue, etc. constituent les principaux résultats atteints par cette thèse.<p><p>Toutefois, il sied de préciser qu’il s’agit ici, non seulement de construire des maisons en terre, mais surtout de développer un style d’habitat répondant à la fonctionnalité des logements et susceptible de renforcer les dimensions sociales et culturelles tout en respectant l’environnement. <p><p>Enfin, des pistes de recherches ultérieures sont envisagées. Elles nécessitent d’être creusées en vue d’autres améliorations des logements de terre crue en climat tropical. <p>Il s’agit de :l’érosion due au ruissellement sur les murs de terre, l’étude des logements de terre crue en hauteur (R+1, 2, 3, …n ;où n représente le nombre d’étages) pour la RDCONGO, le développement des activités économiques liées aux constructions en terre, la stabilisation organique des sols à l’aide des produits locaux, etc.<p><p><p><p>Contact :arch2002chiral@yahoo.fr<p> / Doctorat en Art de bâtir et urbanisme / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The post-apartheid government inherited an urban housing backlog of approximately 1.3 million units at its inception in 1994. This huge backlog was partially contributed by apartheid discriminatory administrations and laws such as the Black (Native) Laws Amendment Act, No 46 of 1937 and the Black Communities Development Act, No 4 of 1984 along with rapid urbanization during the post-apartheid period. In a bid to address past injustice related to housing, it has become necessary for the post-apartheid government to diversify housing delivery approach to include alternative development and delivery strategies, methodologies and products including upgrading of informal settlements, and increasing rental stock. The human settlements department also encouraged the establishment and implementation of self-help housing through the establishment of the People Housing Process (PHP). It is the implementation of this programme that led to the establishment of the SACTSP aimed at enhancing South African housing service delivery using Cuban experience. The programme has been implemented in the South African human settlements sector since 2002. The focus of this research is to evaluate the impact of the South African Cuban Technical Support Programme (SACTSP) in the lives of the South African housing beneficiaries. The collected and analysed data, to a large degree, confirmed the effect of the programme in the lives of the beneficiaries. The research design of the study is a multiple Case Studies approach. The scope of the study is the three provinces participating in the SACTSP, which are Mpumalanga (MP), Western Cape (WC), and Limpopo (LP). The intention was to have both the control group and the intervention group in the same province, but due to the over usage of the CTA’s in these provinces the researcher decided to use Gauteng Province (GP), a non-participating province in the programme, as a control group. This is also due to the fact that the province (Gauteng) is also commonly known for publicly criticising the effectiveness of the SACTSP programme. Data was collected in three housing projects from the three Gauteng Metropolitan Municipalities Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and City of Johannesburg. The selected projects were Mamelodi Extension 5 in Tshwane, Villa Lisa (Boksburg) in Ekurhuleni and Driekiek Extension 3 in Orange Farm, Johannesburg. The selected projects where the CTAs participated (experimental group) were Chicago Bulls at Strand in Cape Town (WC), Thekwane South Housing Projects, Nelspruit in Mpumalanga and Westernburg at Polokwane in Limpopo Province. In each unit of evaluation, questionnaires to collect data were distributed to the rightful owners (beneficiaries) of the houses, who were above eighteen years of age. (Annexure A). The participants, all rightful owners of state subsidies, were identified by means of purposive sampling. The main goal of purposive sampling is to focus on particular characteristics of a population that are of interest, which will best enable the researcher to answer the research questions Semi-structured interview questions were also conducted to the main stakeholders in the housing circle. This includes officials in all spheres of government involves in delivering sustainable human settlements (Annexure B). The selection is also influenced by what is called the “good enough” rule in formulating evaluation research (Rossi et al., 2012:28). Stated simply the “good enough” rule advocates that the evaluator should choose the strongest possible design from a methodological stand point after having taken into account the potential importance of the results, the practicality and feasibility of each design and the probability that the design chosen will produce useful and credible results (Rossi et al., 2012:33) The collected data was analysed and presented in five principal stages involving descriptive and inferential statistics. The first phase involves presenting the reliability of the instrument using Cronbach’s alpha. The second phase presents the descriptive statistics of the sample using frequencies, and proportions for categorical data and means and standard deviations for continuous variables. The validity of the instrument then follows using exploratory factor analysis which explains the observed variables that are linked to underlying factors. The fourth phase involves calculation of composite variables using the means and averages to determine the trend patterns in the data. The central limit theorem was applied to the data and comparative analyses were done to determine whether views differed by socio-demographic variables. The two sample independent t-tests were done to determine whether views of the respondents differed for two-categorical variables and the one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to determine whether views differ for variables with more than two categories. The fifth stage presented the correlation analysis which was used to determine the extent or degree of the relationship between the constructs. The findings of the studies confirm the effectiveness of the programmes in the participating provinces. The study also discovered that, CTA’s are mostly transferring skills to contractors who happened to be working close to the CTAs and only to beneficiaries in a few instances. This is due to the nature of the self-help model that the South African government adopted which involves private contractors in building PHP houses. This model ignores the national PHP policy and guidelines which recognise beneficiaries as the main drivers of the PHP. The study concludes by recommending the department policy makers to monitor and enforce correct implementation of formulated policy to close the gaps that are usually created between policy formulation and implementation. / Public Administration and Management / D. Admin. (Public Administration)