Revisiting the Self-Help Housing debate: Perception of Self-Help Housing by the beneficiaries of South African low-cost housing

2.4.4: The relationship between inequality and the rise of Self-Help Housing

As it may be argued, inequality is the cause of the existence of poor housing condition. Huchzermeyer (2002b) has established a closer relationship between inequalities in South Africa and the expansion of informal settlement which is one of the forms of SHH (see Chapter Three). With the lack of adequate housing finance for the poor (Rust, 2002), which is a form of inequality in South Africa and the inability of the government to provide housing for all South Africans, poor people are likely to seek to solve their housing needs themselves. As some authors have argued, SHH is the expression of economic and political crisis or, more explicitly, the expression of inequality. Indeed, in Tembisa, data gathered shows that up to fifteen thousand households, especially poor are on the housing waiting list. This means that if the government cannot find enough finance to subsidize housing in this part of the country, households concerned will either find the way to solve their housing need or they will simply become homeless. In short, only victims of inequalities, which in South Africa are especially Black, lack enough resources to adequately access housing finance. And the most concerned with this issue are poor households.

It derives that poverty and inequalities go hand in hand. As Huchzermeyer (2002b) argues, informal settlement draws attention to poverty. It may also be argued that poverty is a result and great manifestation of inequality. The following part will analyze the issue of poverty and in turn its relation with the expansion of SHH.

2.5: Poverty

2.5.1 Definitions and overview

Poverty is a broad concept which implies several understandings. It may be considered as the contradiction existing in our cities, countries or world. While some people are living in good housing conditions, some others do not have access to adequate housing or are purely homeless. It is also a vibrant expression of inequality in our living space. Like inequality, poverty is easy to recognize. In South Africa, especially in townships, living conditions of residents reveal a high degree of poverty. According to the World Bank, «Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom» ( http://web.worldbank.org). Some schools of thought have established a closer relationship between poverty and underdevelopment^16(*).

From liberal view, poverty is understood as the lack of income. In other words, people are poor because they do not earn enough income. This definition is true but it seems incomplete and reductive. In this sense, poverty may be quantified and measured through Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or GNP. However, Baumann (2003) shows that in South Africa an important number of citizens do not work in the formal sector but they earn income in exploiting assets which are in their disposition (see fig 5 and 6 in appendix). This means that poverty is more than lack of formal income.

According to the Marxist view, poverty is understood in relation to production. This means that poverty is the result of capitalism. The advantage of this position is that the causes of poverty or underdevelopment are internal and must be found in the process of production. This position regarding poverty completely differs from «dependency theory» which compares developed (rich) countries and undeveloped (poor) countries. According to this theory, poverty, which brings bad housing conditions, is the result of exploitation and imperialism from western countries. The causes of poverty and underdevelopment should, according to dependency theory^17(*) be found in western countries. Regarding bad housing conditions, proponents of dependency theory would say that its causes in developing countries are external, created by western countries.

The concept of dependency does not go without being criticized. Dependency implies unconsciously the concept of autonomous. Referring to the theory of dependency, in the relation between underdeveloped and developed countries, underdeveloped countries are dependent and developed countries are autonomous. This concept is as ambiguous and complex as the concept of development. Is it possible to be quite dependent or entirely autonomous? As it can be argued, no country in the world is totally autonomous. All countries are interconnected and interlinked. We can perhaps talk about the degree of dependency and say for example that the underdeveloped countries are more dependent than autonomous; and developed countries are more autonomous than dependent.

Another critique comes from Bradshaw et al (1996) which argue that in focusing on external causes of poverty, poor countries can forget real issues such as debt, migration, population growth, etc.

Finally, modernization theory also provides an explanation of poverty and underdevelopment.^18(*) According to this school of thought, some countries are poor because they lack modern economies, modern psychological traits, modern cultures, and modern institutions (see Bradshaw et al, 1996). Like dependency theory, some critiques challenge modernization assumptions. One of these critiques is that modernization theory understands development as a linear process derived from a western model. In other words, western countries are to be congratulated and developed countries should be blamed. In addition, modernization theory brought economic growth, but did not necessarily allow poverty alleviation and housing solution for poor households (Burgess, 1992).

In sum, poverty is a controversial issue and reveals that there is a need for our cities to fight for more equality and improvement of living conditions. How does poverty, understood also as lack of shelter give rise to the practice of SHH? This is the issue which will be the subject of the following discussion.

* ¹⁶ The closer relationship between poverty and developing countries does not mean that they are no poor people in developed countries.

* ¹⁷ The dependency theory which originates in Latin America in 1960 situates the underdeveloped countries in comparison with the developed countries and focuses on the relation between rich and poor countries. The goal or the purpose of dependency theory is to identify the main causes of underdevelopment or the «development of underdevelopment» of the third world. According to dependency theory, the dependent countries or third word are underdeveloped because of imperialism, capitalism, and inequality in exchange that means that underdeveloped countries are exploited especially in relation to the developed countries. In other words, the causes of underdevelopment are external.

* ¹⁸ Modernization theory has as its aim the suppression of traditional society represented by culture which is considered as an obstacle to development and the consecration of modernity represented by rationality. The application of modernization theory in the process of development brings improvement of quality of life and economic growth especially by industrialization and introduction of new and advanced technology.