Informal rental housing in urban Africa
Convenors: Andreas Scheba (Human Sciences Research Council & University of the Free State), Abraham Matamanda (University of the Free State)
Discussant: Ivan Turok (Human Sciences Research Council & University of the Free State)
Track: Transformative Practices
Keywords: Informal Rental Housing, Informal Urbanism, Densification, Housing Policy
Friday October 25, 10:45–12:15, A3, John Moffat Building
SESSION 13
INFORMAL RENTAL HOUSING IN URBAN AFRICA
A growing proportion of Africa’s urban population lives in ‘informal rental housing’, which comprise dwellings and/or rooms that are constructed, managed or let without adhering to some or all formal regulations and procedures (e.g. planning laws and building standards, title deed, lease agreements, tax and rates collection). While informal rental housing enables poor households to access the city, and provides vital income to (often equally poor) homeowners, scholarship has highlighted some of the drawbacks: health and safety risks, infrastructure overload, social conflicts and lost public revenues. Despite growing interest among scholars and policy makers, relatively little is known about the drivers, practices, impacts and policy developments in this sector in different African cities. This session aims to promote a comparative dialogue to discuss how informal rental housing is transforming African cities and neighbourhoods. More specifically, we invite presentations from emerging and senior scholars in response to the following questions:
- What are the economic, social and political drivers of informal rental housing in different African cities?
- How do the typologies, designs, and quality of dwellings differ within and across African contexts?
- Who are the key actors involved in financing, constructing and managing informal rental housing? What are their interests?
- How, if at all, do African governments engage with the informal rental housing sector?
- What are the impacts on residents' lives, local neighbourhoods and the wider city?
Presentations
Kpako House - The Commercialization of Informal Housing in Lagos Metropolis
The unregulated proliferation of undocumented informal housing in the Lagos Metropolis, popularly called ' kpako house', has been a relief for over 20 million slum residents of Lagos state, despite being neglected and overlooked by the government. For social equity, inclusion is therefore needed.
INFORMAL SUBLETTING IN PRIVATE RENTAL HOUSING AS A MECHANISM FOR HOUSING AFFORDABILITY
Informality of housing refers to the lack of legality in one sense or the other, rather than substandard construction (UN Habitat, 2017). Between 1996-2003, about 34.1% of Addis Ababa’s housing supply was informal. And in effect informal subletting is practiced as one way of accessing affordability.
