Developing sustainable housing for low income class in Western Cape province: Quality checks on South African government low-cost housing

Abstract

Purpose: There is high demand for housing in developing countries and South Africa is not an exception. This has resulted in severe social and economic pressure over the past few decades and has given rise to the concentration of the most deprived households in the urban neighbourhoods; called “informal settlements”. Government on its part has made funds available through budgets to meet the demand for housing. Thus, it is imperative that government funded housing is produced at a quality that satisfies the present requirement of the population without compromising the ability of the future dwellers to meet their housing demands. The study is conceptualised to identify the satisfaction level of current inhabitants of the low-cost housing constructed through the government funded housing programme with a view to establish a framework for ongoing research to develop sustainable housing that is aff ordable to all income classes, contemplating future generation needs. Design/methodology/approach: Literature search on the subject matter was conducted and quantitative research approach was used for data gathering and analysed using frequency analysis on SPSS version 22. Finding: The results of analysis reveal that the quality of houses provided falls below the minimum expected quality. Originality/Value: The paper provides investigatory results of perceptions of occupants in government funded housing estates.