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Urban LandMark Newsletter
Press releases
In the news
- Let's see the real value in RDP houses
Why would a subsidy beneficiary choose to rent out their house for R700 a month? This article by Kate Tissington, Kecia Rust, Robert McGaffin, Mark Napier and Sarah Charlton argues that we need to understand the choices people are making in difficult economic circumstances, with a view to supporting successful endeavours, rather than punishing people who are leveraging their RDP houses in rational and understandable ways.
- Global Land Tool Network Newsletter
The Global Land Tool Network, facilitated by UN-HABITAT, contributes to the implementation of pro-poor land policies to achieve secure land rights for all. The GLTN Newsletter highlights the network's recent news, events and publications.
- Urban Landmark Regionalisation Theme Coordinator keynote speaker at UN Habitat Week at Shanghai World Expo 2010
Caroline Wanjiku Kihatu, Urban LandMark's Regionalisation Programme Coordinator, has been invited to participate, as one of the Shanghai Week Speakers, on the Forum on Opportunity on Sunday 10 October, where she will debate how we ensure that cities' resources are shared equitably to minimise conflict and inequality.
- Government to focus on inner-city housing
Government's past focus on building settlements outside economic hubs was to the detriment of the poor who lived there, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said recently. At the official launch of the Tau Village in Pretoria's busy Struben Street, Sexwale said inner-city housing was a reality.
- India cannot be made slum-free in five years
India's fast urbanisation is spawning greater numbers of slums, forcing millions of people to live in squalor. And a year after the government made the grand claim to make the country slum-free, officials say the five-year time-frame is unrealistic.
- A Fractured Nation: Operation Murambatsvina - five years on
A new report by the Solidarity Peace Trust follows up on previous research conducted by the trust in 2005/6, and builds on the narratives of the lives of particular families and informal settlements from 2005 to 2010. The story is a grim one, with many of the individuals involved now prematurely dead, and others living in unspeakable poverty. The four detailed case studies in this report illustrate the lives of extreme hardship that have driven Zimbabweans from one place of abode to another in the last five years. Download the full report.
- The urban housing conundrum
With the government failing to provide cheaper homes and private options out of reach, India’s urban poor have little choice. Mint newspaper's Rahul Chandran reports on Kathputli Colony in Delhi, which has become the testing ground for a new strategy to house the poor.
- Metro police burn down shacks outside luxury estate
Police earlier this week set fire to some 50 shacks in Cemetery Estate, a community of migrant workers and illegal immigrants located close to a number of luxury estates in Pretoria East. Commenting on the evictions, Mark Napier of Urban Landmark said the city had to find alternative accommodation for evicted people.
- Joburg council ordered to rebuild homes in Kliptown
The Johannesburg High Court has ordered the City of Joburg and its metro police department to rebuild the Kliptown homes they destroyed while carrying out an eviction notice in June.
- The art of public housing
Sanjeev Sanyal, president of the Sustainable Planet Institute, argues that, while India should pay heed to de Soto, it should not ignore the Singaporean model.
- Johannesburg draws poor, struggles to house them
An article by Donna Bryson of Associated Press investigates the plight of poor tenants in inner-city Johannesburg.
- Kicked out for the Cup?
Allegations of forced evictions for the World Cup have been sprouting up all over South Africa. Christopher Werth of Newsweek investigates.
- New urban reform project to offer hope to slum families in Kenya
The government of Kenya has launched a countrywide municipal reform programme aimed at uplifting the living standards of the urban poor. Dubbed the Kenya Municipal Programme, the objective of the programme is to overhaul crucial services such as health, sanitation, and transport. It will also seek to move the function of regional and urban development planning from the Ministry of Local Government to individual municipalities.
- Government proposes guarantee fund for those who cannot secure home loans
Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale has indicated that low and middle-income earners may be able to buy their own homes if a partnership between government and the banking sector is formed.
- More than 50,000 people at risk of imminent forced eviction in Kenya
Amnesty International has called on the Kenyan government to halt the proposed eviction of more than 50 000 people living alongside the country's railway lines until guidelines that conform with international human rights standards have been adopted.
- Overcoming urban inequality: Publication on Brazil's City Statute
Brazil’s City Statute is a unique and groundbreaking legal instrument that seeks to overcome urban inequality. The City Statute of Brazil: A Commentary is a collection of essays describing the content and process of elaboration of the Statute, as well as the political, social and economic background against which the relevant legislation was formulated and is now being implemented. The publication is the result of a partnership between the Cities Alliance and Brazil's Ministry of Cities.
- Black market highlights RDP cracks
According to research conducted by think-tank Urban Landmark, over the last five years 11%
of all RDP properties were unofficially traded by owners who were barred from selling their
houses due to a mandatory lock-in period.
- UN says 227m escape life in slums
According to the United Nations, nearly a quarter of a billion people escaped life in the slums over the past decade. The improvement was thanks largely to housing efforts in China and India.
- 'Forgotten' Voices in the Present
South African History Archive announces publication of new book as part of overall project to alleviate socio-economic suffering and cultural marginalisation of South Africa's poor.
- Book: The Struggle over Land in Africa
New book from HSRC Press analyses role of land as place and source of conflict.
- International real estate federation to provide affordable shelter for the poor in Nigeria
International real estate federation to provide affordable shelter for the urban poor in Nigeria.
- India: Housing scheme guidelines to be rejigged to make cities slum free
Indian housing ministry fine-tuning flagship programme to make Indian cities slum-free.
- Land reform slow
Willing buyer, willing seller policy introduced by Namibian Government fails to yield desired outputs.
- Property rights at last for women
Court ruling finally gives Swazi women the right to own and administer property in their own names.
- Large-scale shift in housing supply through small-scale rental
In spite of various attempts at resolution over the years, South Africa still has a housing shortage. A new research report offers an alternative solution which promises to improve the supply of affordable housing.
- New initiative to support the development of State of the Cities Reports in Africa [Cities Alliance, PDF]
An initiative co-funded by the Cities Alliance seeks to develop 30 State of the Cities Reports, at least one per country, for sub-Saharan Africa. The initiative aims to use this process as a basis for building urban knowledge and organisational capacity among African urban policy makers, planners and practitioners.
- Investigating alternative forms of tenure security [NGO Pulse, PDF]
An article by Ronald Eglin of Afesis-corplan explores a range of potential options for the poor to access urban land in ways that achieve official recognition and the wide variety of benefits arising from this.
- Land reform: Government gets tough [Financial Mail, PDF]
The Financial Mail recently reported that the Department of Public Works was preparing to reintroduce its expropriation bill, with significant amendments - it would be treated like a new bill. According to AgriSA, the most contentious aspect is that the bill allows the minister to determine the final price of expropriated land without recourse of appeal to a court in the event of a disagreement.
- Residents flee from violence in Kennedy Road informal settlement
The Kennedy Road informal settlement in Durban has been racked by mob violence since late September. More than 1000 people are estimated to have fled the settlement, fearing for their lives. Read a selection of media reports investigating the possible causes of the tension, and reporting on the response from community organisations, academics and church leaders.
- Ethnic tension boils over (Mail and Guardian)
- Academics condemn attack on settlement (Business Day Online)
- Church enters Kennedy Road fray (Sowetan)
- Kennedy Road attack: ANC and police in the spotlight (Witness)
- New book on urban land markets due out on 9 October [Springer, PDF]
Edited by Somik V. Lall, Mila Freire, Belinda Yuen, Robin Rajack, and Jean-Jacques Helluin, the book brings together a collection of papers presented during the World Bank 4th Urban Research Symposium held in Washington, DC in 2007. The papers helped develop a robust analytical foundation to clarify ongoing debates on urban land management and welfare and synthesized the political and administrative challenges of improving the efficiency of urban land markets.
- Pan Africa Shopping Centre proves to be valuable asset for Alexandra [eProp, PDF]
eProp reports that consumers are flocking to the first fully integrated shopping mall and taxi facility developed by public-private partnership in Alexandra.
- Global action by UK government to help create a fair, safe and sustainable world
The UK’s Department of International Development (DFID) has published a new White Paper arguing that development is not only morally right, but is in the world’s shared interest. Titled Building our Common Future [PDF 4.56MB], the paper describes how, using new approaches, new partnerships, and working through the international system, the UK aims to help the poorest countries confront global challenges and build a fairer, safer and more sustainable world. Download a summary of the paper.
- Service delivery protests put pressure on government
A wave of protests has erupted in townships across South Africa over service delivery. Read articles on this topic from the Mail & Guardian Online and Business Day Online.
- Transnet holds back on Carlton sale, but says residential option is inappropriate [Engineering News, PDF]
A recent article by Terence Creamer, published in Engineering News Online, reveals that, while Transnet did not intend disposing of the Carlton Centre, situated in downtown Johannesburg, during the current property market downturn, it was opposed to arguments that it forego profits on any possible future sale in the interests of a social housing project.
- Second "Slumdog" child star's home torn down [Reuters, PDF]
Railway authorities in Mumbai tore down the shanty home of another "Slumdog Millionaire" child star on Wednesday, barely a week after a first child actor from the Oscar-winning film was forced into the streets. Also read the UN Rapporteur
- Home ownership: Shelter, or burden? [The Economist, PDF]
The social benefits of home ownership are beginning to look more modest and the economic costs much higher. In 2008, 2.3m American families lost their homes or faced foreclosure - double the average before the global economic meltdown - reducing the home-ownership rate from 69% in 2004 to 67.5% at the end of 2008. The number of owner-occupied dwellings also slipped in Britain in 2007/08, for the first time since the 1950s.
- Shack rentals in South Africa [PDF]
A new report has been released by the Social Housing Foundation. This report pulls together multiple sources of statistical information on informal rental both in backyard and informal settlements to try and provide the most accurate picture possible of the informal rental market today.
- Capitalism beyond the crisis
A book review by Amartya Sen in the New York Review of books.
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