1. Affordable Housing In Africa

 

In 2011, UNHABITAT reported a research about Affordable land and housing in Africa. The research showed that only four out of every ten Africans currently lives in an urban area, the lowest ratio in the world. However, over the coming fifteen years, cities in Africa will, every day, become home to at least another 40,000 people. The study discovered that growth in African countries is concentrated in cities and recent growth in major African cities was phenomenal: Between 2005 and 2010 Lagos grew by 1.8 million people, Kinshasa by 1.6 million and Luanda by 1.2 million. In terms of proportional growth, Abuja doubled in size (51.7 per cent), Ouagadougou grew by 43.7 per cent and Luanda by 35.0 per cent in the same five-year period. There are, however, vast differences in the level of urbanization of African countries. Only 11.0 per cent of the population in Burundi lives in cities, and only 13.3 per cent in Uganda whereas, in contrast, 86.0 percent of the population of Gabon and 81.8 percent in Western Sahara live in cities.2 Regardless of intra-country specificities, the rapid and sustained urbanization that characterizes the African continent is placing enormous strain on the provision and affordability of urban land and housing.

The continued growth and expansion of African cities has placed increased the gap between the supply and demand of urban land and housing. Housing developed and sold through the formal market is simply not affordable for the vast majority of Africans. It is unaffordable not just because incomes are too low but also because the key components affecting housing cost and access are too expensive. Urban land for housing development is increasingly scarce, poorly regulated and therefore expensive. Construction materials and housing infrastructure costs are increasing from already high levels. Conventional housing finance is either not available or simply unobtainable for most Africans due to high down-payment requirements, short loan periods and high interest rates. Such housing inputs make adequate housing unaffordable for the majority.

Land ownership and use remains a major challenge to scaling up affordable housing initiatives in Africa. There are many different legal regimes relating to land tenure and management, which have their roots in dimensions relating to European colonial experiences, contemporary socio-economic and geo-political factors, and indigenous cultural and normative systems. Such complex land patterns confront African governments in their efforts to develop and implement urban planning and housing programmes and mean much land development for housing is accessed through informal mechanisms.

Furthermore, such land patterns and the scarcity of urban land means that individual squatting in informal settlements is becoming increasingly difficult. Consequently, African informal housing has become highly commoditized and now involves payment for sale or rent, which places extra pressure on already vulnerable urban poor households. Some progress is being made to improve land management, access and equity through initiatives such as the Land Policy Initiative, which is coordinated by the African Union, African Development Bank and the UN Economic Commission for Africa, and declarations of the African Ministerial Conferences on Housing and Urban Development (AMCHUD), in particular the 2010 Bamako Conference where land was recognized as playing a central role in sustainable and equitable urban development.

The Study Summarized the affordable housing problems as follow:

·         There are also vast differences the level of urbanization of African countries. In 2010 Burundi was only 11.0 per cent urban (the lowest in Africa), followed closely by Uganda (13.3 per cent) and Ethiopia (16.6 per cent). In contrast, Reunion was the most urban with 94.0 per cent of its population living in urban areas, followed by Gabon (86.0 per cent) and Western Sahara (81.8 per cent). Regionally, growth has also been variable. Between 2005 and 2010 Central Africa grew the fastest (4.13 per cent), followed closely by Western Africa (4.05 per cent). Eastern Africa grew 3.86 per cent, Northern Africa 2.45 per cent, and Southern Africa had the smallest growth rate of 1.88 per cent, equating to less than half that of Central Africa.

·         Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest urban and slum growth rates of all the regions in the world (4.58 and 4.53 per cent respectively), and also the highest proportion of slum dwellers at 61.7 per cent in 2010. Between 1990 and 2005 the number of slum dwellers has almost doubled—from 101 million in 1990 to 199 million in 2005, which equates to six out of every ten urban dwellers.

·         Yet there remains much to be done to improve housing affordability and supply in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although there are pockets of change (for instance Ghana, Senegal and Uganda decreased their slum populations by 20 per cent between 2000 and 201010), access to affordable land is a serious constraint, as is housing finance, where a staggering 85 per cent of Africa’s urban population are not eligible or able to secure formal housing loans.

·         Growth in African countries is concentrated in cities. Between 2005 and 2010 the largest cities (with a population of more than one million) accounted for only 27.1 per cent of urban population growth meaning that secondary and smaller cities accounted for most of urban growth in Africa.

·         From 2000 onwards, African countries have been influenced by the prevailing model of facilitating the private sector with a focus on sustainable urban planning. For example, the Luanda Sul Self-financed Infrastructure Programme in Angola, launched in 1995, aimed to address the housing shortage through mobilizing private sector investment. Three new, highly planned areas were developed to reduce pressure on central city. The government acquired the land and mobilized private contractors for housing and infrastructure development. As of 2001, 800 hectares have been developed and 2,200 units have been built, and the programme has reportedly stimulated the construction sector and provided 4,000 new jobs. Likewise, Morocco’s adopted capital expenditure strategy for 2008 to 2012 focuses on greater private sector involvement through tax incentives, as well as development of mixed-income urban housing projects trough cross-subsidizing housing units for low-income households. Buyers of low-cost units will be eligible for mortgages guaranteed by Fonds de garantie pour les revenus irréguliers et modestes (FOGARIM), an agency created in 2004 to encourage banks to provide long-term credit to lower-income individuals and those with a less than steady source of income.

·         Incremental self build is becoming increasingly impossible for urban Africans, primarily due to a lack of land or the high cost of it. Consequently, rental and house-sharing practices are widespread in most African cities. Such practices place extra strain on already vulnerable households: crowding is a health issue and renting means those that can least afford it often spend a disproportionate portion of their income on housing expenditure and therefore cannot save for improved housing.

·         Access to land, in particular serviced land, for housing is one of the major problems faced by practically all African cities. Most households access land for housing through the informal land market, which is often based on customary land tenure practices which have become highly commercialized in many countries.

·         Privatization of public housing together with various legal reforms abolishing rental protection has decreased affordable rental housing options in many African countries.

·         Many governments, at central and local levels, insist on the use of conventional building materials technologies, and standards and regulations that prevent the use of more appropriate, readily available, cost-effective and environmentally friendly construction materials and technologies.

·         Only 15 per cent of the population in urban Africa can afford formal housing with the associated financing costs