5.2 Assessing Housing Affordability
5.2.5 Affordability and Quality of Housing
The results in Table 5.17 show that about 45 per cent of households in informal settlements on Lacey Road, Havelock Road and Sir Kumar Reddi Road used corrugated iron sheets to build the walls of their dwellings (see Photograph 5.1 on page 138), while 40 per cent used scrap wood. About 88 per cent of the households used corrugated iron sheets as a roofing material of the dwellings. A comparison of the three study sites indicates that about 59 per cent of households in the informal settlement on Sir Kumar Reddi Road utilised corrugated iron sheets for constructing dwelling walls, while households on Lacey Road and Havelock Road mainly used both corrugated iron sheets and scrap wood. The predominant use of such substandard building materials suggests that households in these settlements cannot afford to build housing using standard building materials. The results in this Table show that about 54 per cent of the households spent less than R5,000 in building and maintenance costs.
Photograph 5.1 Construction Material of Dwelling Units in Lacey Road Informal Settlement
Source: Field Survey (2018)
The results shown in Table 5.18 indicate that 50 per cent of the households lived in one room and 19 per cent in two rooms. The results show that a negative correlation existed between single-person households at 21 per cent shown in Table 5.19 and one-room dwellings at 50 per cent shown in Table 5.18. A mismatch between single-person households and one-room dwellings could be an indication
140 of overcrowding in the settlements. Informants from FEDUP, SDI and eThekwini Municipality indicated that overcrowding often resulted as low-income households sharing accommodation to save on housing costs. The informant from Urban LandMark indicated that competition for land in the highly dense settlements forced single-person households to share a small one-room dwelling with other single-persons.
Table 5.17Percent distribution of households by type of building material and construction cost of dwelling
Characteristic Informal Settlement Frequency Percent Cumulative Percent Lacey
Road Havelock
Road Sir Kumar Reddi Road Walling material
Scrap wood 50 40.3 21.1 169 40.0 40.0
Unburnt brick - - 5.6 5 1.3 41.3
Cement block/Concrete 2.9 - 5.6 11 2.5 43.8
Corrugated iron/zinc 33.3 50.3 58.9 190 45.0 88.8
Burnt Brick - - 3.3 3 0.6 89.4
Recycled plastic 1.7 - - 3 0.6 90.0
Cardboard 12.1 10.1 5.6 42 10.0 100.0
Total 100 100 100 100
Roofing material
Corrugated iron/zinc 93.7 84.9 81.1 371 87.5 87.5
Asbestos - 5 14.4 21 5.0 92.5
Scrap wood 4.6 6.9 - 19 4.4 96.9
Cardboard 1.7 3.1 4.4 12 3.1 100.0
Total 100 100 100 100
Construction cost of dwelling
R2,500 and under 33.3 10.1 58.9 114 26.9 26.9
R2,501-R5,000 50 24.4 21.1 114 26.9 53.8
R5,001-R10,000 4.6 15.2 3.3 37 8.8 62.5
Do not know 12.1 50.3 16.7 159 37.5 100.0
Total 100 100 100 100.0
No. of households 174 159 90 423
Source: Author (2018)
Table 5.18 Number of rooms per dwelling
Rooms in dwelling Frequency No. of rooms Percent Cumulative Percent
One room with multiple uses 312 312 50 50
Two rooms with multiple uses 58 116 18.6 68.6
Three rooms 24 72 11.4 80
Four rooms 21 128 13.6 93.6
Five rooms 8 40 6.4 100.0
Total 423 668 100.0
Source: Field Survey (2018)
Results shown in Table 5.20 confirm that a high proportion of households in these settlements lived in dwellings smaller than 30m2. The floor areas of the dwellings were calculated following the measurement of dwellings with a measuring tape. In order to understand the average available floor space per household, the net floor areas of dwellings were added together and divided by the
141 population in the three study sites. The results shown in this Table indicate that about 59 per cent of households in the three study sites lived in dwellings smaller than 30m2 and about 23 per cent lived in dwellings of 35 to 60m2.
Informants from FEDUP and SDI were asked about the size of these dwellings and the standard floor space accorded per person. The informants indicated that these makeshift dwellings were extremely small and often crowded. However, a member of Abahlali base Mjondolo who lived in the informal settlement on Havelock Road mentioned that “while our dwellings are extremely small, we do not mind living in crowded conditions as long as it gives us an opportunity to share housing costs and generate rental-income.” Informants from FEDUP and SDI indicated that such living arrangements made housing affordable for residents of informal settlements with insecure and irregular incomes.
However, results shown in Table 5.20 do not take into account the number of occupants per dwelling;
the results do not reveal the level of overcrowding that resulted as low-income households share accommodation to save on housing costs.
Table 5.19 Number of household members by informal settlement No. of
Household Members
Informal Settlement Frequency
count Percent Cumulative
percent People count Lacey
Road Havelock
Road Sir Kumar Reddi Road
1 22.4 10.1 38.9 90 21.3 21.3 90
2 24.1 22 12.2 88 20.8 42.1 176
3 14.9 30.2 17.8 90 21.3 63.4 270
4 18.4 18.9 18.9 79 18.7 82.1 316
5 10.3 15.1 6.7 48 11.3 93.4 240
6 2.9 1.3 4.4 11 2.6 96.0 66
7 2.3 1.3 0 6 1.4 97.4 42
8 4.6 1.3 1.1 11 2.6 100.0 88
Total 100 100 100 100.0 1287
No of Hhds 174 159 90 423
Source: Field Survey (2018)
Table 5.20 Floor space of dwellings in the informal settlements
Square metres of floor space per person Frequency count Percent Cumulative Percent
5.01 - 10m2 17 2.5 2.5
10.01 - 15m2 118 17.7 20.2
15.01 - 20m2 113 16.9 37.1
20.01 - 25m2 116 17.4 54.5
25.01 - 30m2 98 14.7 69.2
30.01 - 35m2 69 10.3 79.5
35.01 - 40m2 57 8.5 88.0
40.01 - 50m2 80 12.0 100.0
Total No. of Dwellings 668 100.0
Source: Field Survey (2018)
In Figure 5.1, total floor space per dwelling was divided by the number of occupants to work out the floor space per person ratio. The data indicates that 50 per cent of households have access to less
142 than 15m2 floor space and 20 per cent have access to 5 to 10m2 floor space. The results in Table 5.21 exclude structures with only one occupant to better reflect square metres per person in dwellings with multiple occupants. When the total floor space of a dwelling was divided by the number of occupants (excluding single-person households), about 57 per cent of the residents had about 5 to 15m2 of floor space per person. Further analysis of the floor areas shown in the Table indicate that 79 per cent of the occupants had access to less than 15m2 of floor space per person and that 35 per cent of residents had access to 5 to 10m2 of floor space per person. These results show that the density of the settlements was generally high (see Photograph 5.2 on page 142) and informants from eThekwini Municipality indicated that this was a major challenge for the provision of sanitation services.
Figure 5.1 Percentage of Floor Area per person provided by a Dwelling
Source: Field Survey (2018)
Table 5.21 Floor space of dwelling available per person excluding structures with one occupant
Square metres of floor space per person Frequency count Percent Cumulative Percent
2m2 4 0,8 0.8
2.01 - 5m2 125 21,7 22.5
5.01 - 10m2 202 35,0 57.5
10.01 - 15m2 125 21,7 79.2
15.01 - 20m2 53 9,2 88.4
20.01 - 25m2 29 5.0 93.4
25.01 - 30m2 19 3.3 96.7
30.01 - 35m2 12 2.0 98.7
35.01 - 40m2 5 0.8 99.4
40.01 - 50m2 3 0.6 100.0
Total No. of Dwellings 578 100.0
Source: Field Survey (2018)
The results shown in Table 5.22 suggest that all households in the informal settlement on Lacey Road were directly connected to the municipal electricity power grid (see Photograph 5.3 on page 143) and
143 paid an average monthly electricity bill of R375. The results shown in the Table also indicate that about 94 per cent of the households were able to pay for utility services if the combined cost of these services was below R1,000 per month. These results were presented to Eskom17 to explain why the firm was not providing electricity services to residents of informal settlements on Havelock Road and
Photograph 5.2 Density of development in Lacey Road informal settlement
Source: Field Survey (2018)
Sir Kumar Reddi Road when some residents were able to pay. The informant from Eskom indicated that the firm was reluctant to provide a reticulated electricity service to households in these informal settlements because residents of Greenwood Park and Clairwood Townships, that these settlements are part of, objected to such a plan arguing that such services should not be provided to illegal settlements. The results in this Table show that all residents of the informal settlement on Havelock Road and 94 per cent of residents in the informal settlement on Sir Kumar Reddi Road accessed electricity through illegal connections (see Photograph 5.4 on page 144). About 6 per cent of the residents of the informal settlement on Sir Kumar Reddi Road accessed electricity through direct lease agreements with neighbours in formal housing in Clairwood Township. Informants from the Municipality and Eskom stated that the minimal provision of these services to residents of informal settlements was designed to minimise the financial risk of non-payment due to the unwillingness or inability of the poor to pay for these services.
17Eskom is a government owned firm that is responsible for the provision of electricity services.
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Table 5.22Percent distribution of households by expenditure on utility services and informal settlement
Characteristic Informal Settlement Frequency Percent Cumulative Percent Lacey Rd Havelock Rd Sir Kumar Reddi
Monthly payment of electricity bill
R100-R200 44 - - 45 11 11
R201-R400 25 - 3 29 7 18
R401-R600 31 - 3 34 8 26
Nothing - 100 94 315 74 100
Total 100 100 100 100
Illegal electricity connection
Yes - 100 94 243 58 58
No 100 - 6 180 42 100
Total 100 100 100 100
Ability to pay utility rates
Yes 89 100 91 397 94 94
No 11 - 9 26 6 100
Total 100 100 100 100
Amount household is able to pay
R201-R400 40 62 50 81 50 50
R401-R600 47 30 38 62 39 89
R601-R800 - 7 - 4 3 92
R801-R1000 6 - - 4 2 94
Nothing 8 2 12 10 6 100
Total 100 100 100 100
No of households 174 159 90 423
Source: Field Survey (2018)
Photograph 5.3 Electricity power lines in Lacey Road informal settlement
Source: Field Survey (2018)
145
Photograph 5.4 Illegal electrical power connections in Havelock Road informal settlement
Source: Field Survey (2018)