School of Public Leadership

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Browsing School of Public Leadership by Author "Adams, Junay"

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    Economic empowerment of housing beneficiaries
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2002-12) Adams, Junay; Burger, A. P. J.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Faculty of Economic & Management Sciences. School of Public Leadership.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A premise of this thesis is that too much emphasis is still placed on dealing with the crisis of housing provision, rather than planning for housing development in South Africa. Little consideration is given to the economic improvement of the housing beneficiaries. The following research question was posed: What can and should be done in order for housing beneficiaries to become economically empowered? Government has the obligation to enhance and maintain the personal social welfare of its inhabitants. Housing is part of a package of social welfare services that includes physical health as well as the incorporeal element within a human being. Housing is also a process of how people came to be housed, starting at the moment when they first apply for a house. Economic empowerment should be linked to the four dimensions of development, i.e. equity, capacity-building, participation, self-reliance. Equity leads to economic empowerment by providing equal access to economic opportunities. capacity-building has aspects of developing skills, providing access to, and establishing supportive structures for economic empowerment. Participation is concerned with achieving power to influence decisions. Finally, self-reliance is linked to economic empowerment because it refers to the ability of people to produce most of its basic needs as well as producing surpluses with which to trade for those commodities and services which it does not produce efficiently itself (Burkey, 1993:51). Economic empowerment of housing beneficiaries implies a micro, individual level focus of economic development. According to Gildenhuys (1993:26) economic welfare refers to the development of the economic and material welfare and prosperity of the individual. Apart from a micro focus, a multi-objective focus is required for sustainability. According to Dalal-Clayton and Bass (2000:12), sustainable development entails balancing economic, social and environmental objectives. Finally, there are two dimensions to economic empowerment, namely, empowerment of the housing beneficiaries, as well as empowerment of development facilitators. Evidence of shortcomings of development projects relating to economic empowerment was provided in this thesis by means of applying the findings of an empirical research project in Wesbank to economic empowerment. The research explored the management processes that were implemented that eventually resulted in outcomes not being desirable. It was explained that the initial "scattering" of opportunities to emerging contractors was not part of a concerted approach for the primary beneficiaries to become economically empowered. This housing development project did not only fail to ensure economic empowerment, but also denied the housing beneficiaries what little economic activity they were involved in prior to the move. The Wesbank evidence was also linked to the views and findings of various authoritative sources that confirmed that government development projects in general, have an unfortunate track record when it comes to economic empowerment of so-called beneficiaries. Two case studies from the United States were used to illustrate that integrated development provides the context for the economic empowerment of housing beneficiaries. Four economic development foci then provided the framework within which solutions were formulated: residential dispersal and mobility, enhancing the capacity of housing beneficiaries, investing in economic empowerment of women, and changing the mindset of the developers. This framework embodies the how of economic empowerment of housing beneficiaries.