Analysis reveals the conversion of shacks to flats meets housing demand in South Africa, suggesting a viable urban housing market.
Largely below the radar, there is a boom in backyard flats under way in many South African townships. People who own a house but with no regular earnings are converting shacks in their backyards into solid rental units to meet the prodigious demand for decent affordable housing from the expanding urban population.
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Human Sciences Research Council (2025) studied this question.
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