Revisiting the Self-Help Housing debate: Perception of Self-Help Housing by the beneficiaries of South African low-cost housing

3.0. Chap 3: Self-Help Housing literature review

3.1: Introduction of the chapter

In the preceding chapter, I tried to demonstrate that SHH which emerges from the situation of economic crisis and the need of having shelter is a result of poverty and inequalities. Indeed, with liberalism and neo-liberalism which stress individual freedom and free-market and which recommend the reduction or the suppression of State intervention on public services, SHH seems to be suitable.

SHH may be considered amongst the well-documented topics in the literature on housing and «the oldest and most primitive form of producing shelter» (Mathey, 1992: 201). In addition, as observed by Turner, «the traditional order was such that individuals (people) who already existed in particular geographical contexts (land) marshalled their resources to construct dwelling units for themselves» (Turner, 1986: 8). This is because, since the beginning of humanity, people have always sought to solve the shelter issue. The argument that explains this reality comes from philosophy which shows that the government or the submission of will to a given authority is a result of contract. Indeed, the government finds its existence with the social contract^20(*). Referring to philosophical background related to social contract, SHH seems to be the oldest housing practice in the World.

The aim of this chapter is to «describe, summarize, evaluate and clarify» (http://www.library.cqu.edu.au) the concept of SHH. The starting point of this chapter is primarily to define and to clarify different forms of SHH. The second section of this chapter will seek to understand the international and the South African experience of SHH. In concrete, this chapter seeks, through the literature review, to extract different forms and the definition of SHH, to enumerate strengths and weaknesses of SHH and to elaborate the criteria for successful SHH.

3.2: The different forms and definition of SHH

From the literature review, we can determine four different forms of SHH. Referring to Burgess, SHH may also be called self-building. In this sense:

«Self-help building is distinguished from other systems of construction in that the family who lives in the house participates in the construction process by making different contributions (finance, labour-power, administration, etc.) be this in an autonomous form or in a form organized by an institution»(Valenzuela and Kierdrowski, quoted in Burgess, 1985: 272-273).

From this definition, two kinds of SHH may be derived: The autonomous form and the assisted or aided form. In addition, Kerr and Kwele (2000: 1315) observe that «this definition is sufficiently broad to incorporate all Self-Help Housing building activities that occur in squatter settlements as well as those that take place with State finance and promotion. It also suggests that Self-Help is not necessarily `self-build' and can cover both individual and collective efforts».

According to Rodell and Skinner (1983: 4), «Self-Help Housing meant houses low-income families constructed with their own, unpaid labour». From this definition, we may retain that the focus is on the poor families and houses are produced by low-income households themselves.

Referring to Harms (1992), there are three kinds of SHH: unaided SHH, State supported SHH and state initiated SHH. The first form of SHH is identified through the literature review as the autonomous or spontaneous form

3.2.1 Autonomous or Spontaneous form of SHH

There is abundant literature on autonomous or spontaneous form of SHH. All authors agree that the development of this kind of SHH explains the inability of a given government through housing programmes to supply adequate and affordable housing for its citizens (Rodell, 1983 and Brian and Raminder, 1988). As a result, people, especially the poorest of the poor or the worst off who are below the poverty line, seek to solve their housing need in squatting as they cannot afford to pay rent or services in formal settlements. This creates in many underdeveloped countries, including South Africa, informal settlements. According to Angel (2000a), informal sector housing is more perceivable in developing countries where the economic development does not permit the majority of population to own «decent housing either through mass public housing construction or through the formal private sector» (Angel, 2000a: 320). Huchzermeyer (2002b) argues that informal settlement draws attention to poverty. Besides, Abrams (1964) goes on to argue that «the slums exist because no nation is able to produce adequate housing, at a cost the workers can afford» (quoted in Obudho et al, 1988: 8). For the World Bank, informal settlement or squatter settlement indicates «housing that is either the result of illegal occupation or has been developed in an unauthorized fashion» (World Bank, 1992).

Obudho et al (1988) argue that in developing countries, squatter settlements are the manifestation of normal urban growth. For Huchzermeyer (2003b), autonomous or spontaneous SHH, called sometimes unaided SHH may be the result of an individual or a group of individuals who occupy land illegally for the purpose of having shelter. In a few words, the autonomous form of SHH which gives rise to informal settlements, squatter settlements or slums is «caused by poverty and inadequate housing responses, which are mutually reinforcing, to some extent» (United Nations Human Settlement Programme 2003:28).

The main cause of failure to provide adequate human settlements in developing countries including South Africa results, as Erguden (2001) argues, in the existing gap between the formulated housing policy and its implementation. According to him, this inadequacy or failure may be experienced in the lack of effective implementation strategies, poor promotion of security of tenure, inadequate supply of affordable land and infrastructure, inadequacy of housing finance systems, poor utilization of local building materials and technologies, lack of support to small-scale construction activities, inappropriate standards and legislation, inadequate participation of communities in shelter development process and support to Self-help, lack of focused research and experimental project, and poor utilization of research findings.

Some governments of developing countries seek to properly address the issue of informal settlement. In South Africa for example, the government reaction related to that issue is explained by the current Minister of Housing. The South African objective consists of the eradication of informal settlements by 2014 (Sisulu, 2005a).

* ²⁰ For the social contract, see the philosophers such as Rousseau, Locke, Hobbes and also Rawls. Even though their position about social contract is not the same, all of them agree that the social contract is the justification of the existence of government