South Africa's emergency housing programme: a prism of urban contest
Cirolia, L. R. (2014). South Africa’s Emergency Housing Programme: A prism of urban contest. Development Southern Africa, 31(3), 397–411. doi:10.1080/0376835x.2014.887998
The Emergency Housing Programme (EHP) is an important subsidy tool in South Africa. The EHP was designed to realise the right to housing and ensure that municipalities rapidly respond to emergency housing situations. However, the programme's implementation has been harshly critiqued by activists, academics, and even other state departments, for a range of valid reasons. This paper explores the findings of a year-long research project consisting mainly of case studies, interviews, workshops and policy review aimed at understanding these criticisms. The research found that the EHP implementers are constrained by conflicted urban development imperatives that include: systemic housing demand, building investment-friendly and efficient cities, and other developmental programmes. This paper argues for a reading of the implementation of EHP as problematic prioritisation, rather than simply one of poor provision. In this way, EHP serves as a prism for urban contest and advocate for more strategic, holistic, and progressive urban decision-making.
Cirolia, L.R. & Berrisford, S. (2017) 'Negotiated planning': Diverse trajectories of implementation in Nairobi, Addis Ababa, and Harare. Habitat International 59 (2017) 71-79
McGaffin, R., Cirolia, L. R., & Massyn, M. (2014). Overcoming the Challenge of Vertical Consolidation in South Africa’s Low-Income Settlements: a Case Study of Du Noon. Urban Forum, 26(1), 59–75. doi:10.1007/s12132-014-9232-6
Cirolia, L. R. (2020). Fractured fiscal authority and fragmented infrastructures: Financing sustainable urban development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Habitat International, 104, 102233. doi:10.1016/j.habitatint.2020.102233
