1 - The development process

Module 1 - the development process - provides an overview of the whole incremental settlement approach highlighting the various phases you need to follow to move from being landless and homeless to having a basic level of tenure security and services to fully subsidised housing and developed neighbourhood over time.

The incremental settlement development process is divided into the following 5 phases:

• Phase 1: Bulk Preparation
• Phase 2: Basic Product
• Phase 3: Aided Self Development
• Phase 4: Upgrading
• Phase 5: Maintenance and Improvement

You will be taken through the details of each of these phases in subsequent modules.

Decision questions: After working through this section you should be able to make decisions on:

• Are you prepared to follow the MLS approach
• Who else should you be speaking to get further advice?

Exercises

Exercise 1: video and comic

Watch the short video on MLS found here and read the comic on MLS found here (still to come)

Do you think the Managed land settlement process as shown in the video is something you would be interested in following? Why do you say that?

There are no suggested responses as these are your views.

Exercise 2: Process flow chart

Assuming you need to move onto a new piece of land, put the following activities into a logical order that will get you into a house:

• Identify potential land you want to develop
• Upgrade the services from communal standpipes and toilets to water and toilets per plot.
• Get approval from government to move onto the land
• Start saving for your future development needs
• Upgrade tenure from an interim occupation certificate to individual ownership
• Find other people who are also want to get land for settlement
• Arrange for interim occupation certificates to be provided when people move onto the land
• Make improvement to and maintain your government subsidised house
• Arrange for communal standpipes and toilets to be installed on the land ready for when people move onto the land
• Use government housing subsidy funding for top structures to add to the temporary house you built
• Move onto land and build a temporary house
• Elect a leadership committee to represent your needs
• Make improvements with your own resources to the temporary house you have built

See the suggested responses section to compare your list to the suggested list.

Exercise 3: Upgrading

How would you shift the order of the steps in the previous exercise if you wanted to show how an upgrading of informal settlement process would work?

See the suggested responses section to compare your list to the suggested list.

Exercise 4: Comparison

Assume that there was another community similar to the community that Pamela came from that also needed houses. This community decided not to follow the incremental settlement process but to rather accept an offer from government that 20% of the members would get a house now and that the remainder would have to wait in the informal settlement for a number of years until government would be able to build more RDP houses for the remainder of those that need houses.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of either 1) accepting the RDP houses or 2) following the incremental settlement process like Pamela and her friends?

See the suggested responses section to compare your response to those suggested.

Assignments

Assignment 1: Identify role-players

Find out who is involved in development of low income housing in your area and get contact details of you can talk to in these organisations.

Use the attached checklist to give you an idea of who to approach.

• municipal departments (town planning, housing, land administration, engineering, etc)
• provincial government departments (land affairs, human settlement, economic development, public works, etc)
• Non government organisations
• Faith based organisations
• Community based organisations
• Private sector organisations

Assignment 2: Get views on MLS

Choose 2 or three of these organisations/ people, and meet with them. Explain to them what incremental settlement is all about. Find out from them if they think that the MLS approach will work. If they don’t know about MLS explain it to them. Get their advice on what they suggest you should do to get land and housing. It is likely that they will talk to you about conventional RDP type housing projects. Ask them how many houses they have been involved in developing over the last few years and compare this to the demand for housing in the area. Consider how long you may have to wait for an RDP house if you had to wait for government to build one for you.

Next module

Click here to go to the next module, Module 2 - Bulk.

Pamela's story