3.4.2 The Canadian experience of
Self-Help Housing
The Canadian experience of aided SHH is documented in Schulist
and Harris (2002). They analyse aided SHH in the period 1940 to 1975. These
authors emphasize the government assistance in the success of aided SHH in
Canada. Indeed, they advocate that with finance and technical assistance, every
citizen may be able to build his own shelter.
These authors show that the success of Canadian experience of
aided SHH has been made possible from the real services that the Government has
provided. They point out that, «Amateurs built well because they received
good guidance: well informed, firm on essentials, but otherwise flexible»
(Shulist et al, 2002: 359).
The criteria which have contributed to the success of this
programme are: provision of land which was not over complicated, finance
mechanism which was also accessible to poor households (in the Canadian case,
the poor household heads were veterans), the technical assistance that
beneficiaries or self builders have received from the government and also the
quality of administration.
Regarding the government assistance, the authors affirm that
«the Administration offered five types of assistance: free legal service,
house plans, construction courses, supervision and financing» (Shulist et
al, 2002: 352). It may be observed that the authors stress the role of
government more than the participation of the beneficiaries.
Despite some weaknesses of the Canadian SHH programme such as
the promotion of scattered development, these authors argue that «over
three decades, it helped thousands of families to acquire well-built homes by
investing sweat equity. It saved families a great deal while costing the public
much less» (Shulist et al, 2002: 366). In sum, the Canadian experience of
SHH shows that the role of government in the success of SHH needs to be taken
seriously.
Before addressing the criteria for successful SHH, I would
like to analyze the emergence and the experience of SHH in South Africa as
presented in the literature.
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