Back to first principles: ideas for supporting incrementalism in low-income housing in South Africa

Despite the initial failure of the self-help, incremental housing approach internationally, it has recently been revived as a way of addressing housing backlogs in developing countries. The debates have reiterated governments’ fiscal limits, and poor people’s capacity to, with support, create and improve their shelter incrementally. An understanding of why incrementalism initially failed, and the household support needed to improve incrementalism outcomes, constitutes this chapter’s main focus. The chapter departs from the viewpoint that a shift from the ‘full housing package approach’ to incrementalism has the best chance of ensuring housing adequacy in South Africa. It analyses the support gaps that yielded the less than sterling incremental housing outcomes in South Africa and internationally. The findings show that household support is a precondition of incremental housing improvement, and the cited failure of incrementalism revolves around the absence of such support for incremental projects. The chapter’s contribution is twofold. Firstly, it highlights the forms of support needed at both project packaging and consolidation levels for poor people to improve their housing incrementally. Secondly, it uses the supports identified to develop a comprehensive support framework for incremental housing practice in South Africa.