Informal rental housing in the South: dynamic but neglected

Abstract

Informal rental housing is growing rapidly in cities of the global South. Changing needs and circumstances of diverse urban populations produce new forms of rental accommodation and landlord–tenant relations. Focusing on the case of backyard renting in South Africa, this paper illustrates how informal rental is undergoing a dynamic process of expansion and upgrading that both reflects and contributes to improved socioeconomic conditions. Commercialization is transforming the material quality and social dynamics of informal rental housing. While there are signs of formalization and professionalization, the government’s neglect of this sector has contributed to the strong persistence of informality, with its associated risks. This paper argues that the informal rental sector deserves more government attention to augment the public benefits and mitigate the costs. The paper ends with suggestions of how a developmental approach by the government could help to convert the negative externalities into a positive dynamic with more equitable and sustainable outcomes.

Renting and Sharing in Low-Income Informal Settlements: Lacunae in Research and Policy Challenges

“…Many of these tenements, whether originally built by government or by the private sector, eventually became entangled in the informal typical shanty towns of Kingston (Clarke, 1983). Similar "backyard" shacks and "micro flats" (tenements) are observed today in South Africa (Scheba & Turok, 2020).…”

“…From the 1990s onwards, many of these consolidated settlements and neighborhoods were subject to urban densification practices and policies under neoliberalism (Gilbert, 2016), although, as we shall observe below, these policies rarely, if ever, directly fostered renting and sharing. As a consequence, a high proportion of today's rental and non-ownership market lies precisely in these older 1 See Scheba and Turok (2020) for descriptions of the dynamics of backyard rentals in South Africa, and the failure of government to respond appropriately. A. N. Baqai, P. M. Ward DOI: 10.4236/cus.2020.83026 458 Current Urban Studies (now) consolidated areas of the city (Ward et al, 2015), and calls for formal rental policies have begun to appear in international agencies such as UN-Habitat and the IDB (Gilbert, 2003;Blanco et al, 2014).…”

Risking health for rental housing: Reviewing service access in the informal backyard rental sector

“…Cape Town also amended municipal by-laws in line with the 2013 Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA) and 2014 Western Cape Land Use Management ACT (LUPA) to allow for an additional dwelling in most townships as a primary right to support formalisation. Yet, the impacts of such strategies have remained relatively limited (Turok et al 2019 ) as actors in the backyard sector have and continue to pay little attention to municipal by-laws and procedures (Scheba & Turok 2020 ).…”

“…Physically, IBRs resemble structures located in informal settlements and have generally been described as unhealthy and unsafe (Gardner & Rubin 2017 ; Gauteng 2015 ; Turok & Borel-Saladin 2016 ; Turok et al 2019 ). As such, scholars have recounted dwellings that are confined, dark, damp, poorly insulated and ventilated, vulnerable to extreme temperatures and tainted by fumes from construction materials and crude cooking and heating devices (Lategan 2017 ; Lemanski 2009 ; Poulsen & Silverman 2005 ; Scheba & Turok 2020 ; Shapurjee & Charlton 2013 ). Tenants accept such conditions and actively seek out informal backyard accommodation to access affordable rental shelter, take advantage of the access, flexibility, familiarity, safety and security often provided by backyard locations and access basic services (Brueckner et al 2019 ; Chetty 2017 ; Gunter 2014 ; Lemanski 2009 ; Morange 2002 ; Naidoo et al 2012 ; Shapurjee & Charlton 2013 ; Turok et al 2019 ).…”

“…New trends of commercialisation have also emerged in larger SA cities, as some private landlords and small-scale developers have sought to profit from the demand for affordable rental accommodation. Such upgrades improve top structures, albeit not always in line with national norms and standards, and may provide improved service access though more formalised private or communal facilities (Scheba & Turok 2020 ). Whilst the development of privately upgraded backyard units is likely to expand exponentially in the future, it is unlikely that this sector will rival the informal backyard segment in scale without dedicated aid from the state, especially when the economic characteristics of poor landlords and renters are considered that may restrict the ability to access capital and pay higher rents related to improved structures and service access (Lategan 2017 ).…”