A neglected sector of housing for the poor: Subletting, sharing and informal renting

More and more attention is being focused on a much neglected segment of the housing market: the large numbers of households living in informally rented or shared accommodation in South Africa's cities. Relationships in this sector may have profound implications for national housing policy, which thus far has paid little attention to any form of rental housing. A pilot research project on the sector was undertaken recently and its preliminary findings are outlined below, along with the results of discussion at a workshop in Johannesburg in February 1996 at which the results were presented.

Notes

Respectively University College, London; Programme for Planning Research, University of the Witwatersrand; Development Centre for Research ‐ Information ‐ Action in Africa (CRIAA): and Urban Problems Research Unit, University of Cape Town (UPRU). The research was assisted by Branceley Shilote at CRIAA and Constance Yose at UPRU; analysis was assisted by Benoit Alanic at CRIAA and presentations of the findings by Phillipe Gervais‐Lambony of the Institut Français en Afrique du Sud (IFAS); and the project was financed by IFAS and the British Council.