A Review of Housing Policies and Their Relevance to Vulnerable Households in Sub Saharan Africa

Abstract

This study reviews critical social science and policy documents on human settlement research to assess the practicality and relevance of the existing housing policy frameworks to urban households headed by vulnerable persons. Specifically, this study intends to justify the significance of vulnerable households’ classification and segmentation when in policymaking. Furthermore, the paper investigates the different omissions and stereotypes in the policymaking that have hindered adequate housing provision for the vulnerable households in sub-Saharan Africa. Several catchy strategies adopted by the various housing policies have been reviewed in this paper. These include; empowerment of the rental housing tenure, particular emphasis on low-income groups/households like the case in Tanzania, proposals for tenant-to purchase housing schemes, densification of the urban areas (Zimbabwe), delegation of house development to the private sector and the governments taking a back seat and assuming enabling roles among others. The various policies appear promising on paper but with limited or no tangible results regarding housing provision for low-income urban households. This paper avers that policy strategies like a special strategy for the low income and vulnerable households remain on paper with no streamlined strategies to achieve it.

The risks of private sector investment in affordable housing development: An Afrocentric perspective

“…"The reduction of procedures for granting building permits; promoting and recognising the role that small land developers play in shaping urban areas; political and technical resources to address the growing housing deficit and mitigate the risk of investing in housing projects; bring property development to the centre of policymaking and recognise its significance in the overall development of the housing." These views align with studies which propounded that developing policies to control the housing sales and rental submarkets, policy evaluation, and reduced time for permit approvals will attract private investment (Mubiru et al, 2022;Adabre, Chan, Darko et al, 2020). This is also in tandem with Hu et al (2022), which suggest that developing policies to control housing sales and rental submarkets can increase housing affordability.…”

“…Moreover, the inadequacy of governments and local bodies to fulfil residents' needs has created a demand for innovative, planned interventions. Scholars have researched affordable housing provision across the Global South (Chan and Adabre, 2019;Mubiru et al, 2022). However, none has combined a literature review and an international expert panel discussion on affordable housing in African countries from Afrocentric views.…”