Reimaging owner-built housing in the free state, South Africa

Abstract

In South Africa, the state provides low-income housing through subsidies to construct starter homes; however, the effort is insufficient to meet the country's housing demand. Another form of public or subsidised housing provision is the self-help housing model. The extent of the impact of the self-help model is not well reported. To close this gap, this article reports on a study expedited to assess whether the self-help housing model could be revitalised to curb the proliferation of informal settlements, especially in the central region of South Africa. The qualitative research aimed to suggest strategies to increase the use of the self-help housing model in the region. The qualitative (textual) data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions before they were subjected to thematic analysis. The study revealed that challenges encumber the self-help model of housing delivery, although the beneficiaries prefer it because of their involvement in the projects, which leads to bigger units and user satisfaction. The study concludes that the self-help housing policy used in South Africa requires revision to increase the scale of implementation.