global shelter adequacy: a case study analysis of · pdf fileglobal shelter adequacy: a case...

Global shelter adequacy:

a case study analysis of

Tanzania

Journal of African Real Estate Research

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Journal of African Real Estate Research The Journal of African Real Estate Research (JARER) is an official publication of the African Real Estate Society (AfRES) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), and is published jointly by AfRES and RICS. The journal aims to understand African real estate markets including their structure and workings; the nature and impacts of efforts that seek to reform them. In addition, the journal highlights the role and importance of real estate markets in Africa in contributing to:

• Poverty alleviation • Growth and stability of the household • Provision of affordable housing • Efficient resource allocation • Equitable land management • Social cohesion • Innovation in urban development • Urban and national economies • Financial sector development

© RICS 2010 ISSN 1755-4233 (print) This journal is available online at www.rics.org/jarer RICS makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all material contained within this publication. However, RICS makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or appropriateness for use of any information contained herein and neither RICS nor the authors accept any liability arising fro the use of the material contained within this publication. The Journal of African Real Estate Research is subject to a peer-review process

Global shelter adequacy: a case study analysis of Tanzania

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Panel of Referees Luxien Ariyan National Housing Finance Corporation South Africa Paul Asabere Temple University United States of America Keith Cattell University of Cape Town South Africa Chris Cloete University of Pretoria South Africa Faoziah Gamu University of Lagos Nigeria Jane Gold Polytechnic of Namibia Namibia Felix Hammond University of Wolverhampton United Kingdom Wilbard Kombe Ardhi University Tanzania Felician Komu Ardhi University Tanzania

Fred Lerise Ardhi University Tanzania Richard Masereje EDI Consult Ltd Uganda Isaac Megbolugbe Johns Hopkins University United States of America Vuyisani Moss National Housing Finance Corporation South Africa Ephraim Munshifwa Copperbelt University Zambia Simon Ndyetabula Ardhi University Tanzania Washington Olima University of Nairobi Kenya Elizabeth Pienaar University of Witwatersrand South Africa Francois Viruly University of Witwatersrand South Africa Jenny Whittal University of Cape Town South Africa


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Global shelter adequacy: a case study analysis of Tanzania Livin Mosha Ardhi University Tanzania Abstract Globally, many millions of people have inadequate access to shelter, which includes sufficiency in housing, water, electricity, sanitation, health, privacy and security. Over and above this, there are many people who are simply homeless, living a sub-standard life. This paper critically studies the magnitude of shelter adequacy or inadequacy through a review of the literature, supplemented by field observations in both urban and rural contexts in Tanzania. The study reveals that there is a serious inadequacy of shelter in Tanzania, especially in unplanned urban settlements and in rural areas. High degrees of poverty and lack of competent professionals who are involved in the construction industry are found to be major factors which hinders shelter adequacy in Tanzania and in many other parts of the world. Governments should extend their thorough commitment through realistic shelter policies towards attainment of shelter adequacy.

Contact Livin Mosha Ardhi University [email protected]


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Introduction Shelter, like food, constitutes one of the basic requirements of mankind (URT 2000a: 39). However, several millions of people in the world are not adequately sheltered despite the right declared in the UN charter on Universal Human Rights (Kroes 1987: 32, Avramov 1998: 25-26). More than 100 million are poorly sheltered in slums of the world (UNCHS 2006:1). The general global adequacy of shelter, which includes safe drinking water, sanitation, commercial energy, privacy and security, is lacking in more than 65% of the world’s population (Verschure 2004:25). Moreover, the term ‘adequacy’ needs to be further qualified to localized situations. Generalization of shelter adequacy in global programmes may, for instance, be the beginning of unrealizable shelter policies in some parts of the world, but realizable in other parts. Adequate shelter is more than walls and roofs. The concept of adequacy symbolizes space in terms of its functional utilitarian capacity, structural stability, durability and liveability in terms of privacy, physical accessibility, security, and the essential accoutrements of lighting, heating and ventilation, the provision of water and sanitation conveniences, security of tenure and the public health qualities of immediate environments (UNCHS 1996:1). The right to access adequate shelter is guaranteed in the United Nations charter on Universal Human Rights, which declares: “Each person’s right to standard living, adequate health and well being including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services” (UNCHS 1990: 1). Various studies have, however, shown shortfalls in global shelter policies. For instance, the policy of shelter for all by the Year 2000 as was proclaimed by United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 1988 has not been realized to date. In Tanzania for instance, Kironde (2005) gives an interesting example of the 2005 general election manifestos in Tanzania, whereby the presidential candidates pledged to provide among other things: free education, free health, millions of new jobs, improved access to water, tarmac roads, improved agriculture, higher agricultural prices and guaranteed markets, a revamped manufacturing sector, and corruption-free public sector, but a housing agenda was not included in their political party manifestos. Methodology The main method employed in this study was an intensive literature review, used to collect global and national shelter data and information. Tanzania was selected to be a case-study, through which shelter adequacy was studied and observed on the ground. Global data on shelter adequacy were collected, and then used as a comparator with the national situation in Tanzania, through field surveys in Dar es Salaam and in Missungwi rural areas in Mwanza region. Inadequate shelter globally In early post World War II period, the United Nations’ report stated that there was no country in the world without a shelter problem (Oliver 1990: 14). To date, the problem is not yet solved. Over one billion of the global population, especially in cities of the developing world, are homeless or living in absolute poor settlements (URT 1996a: 28). The homeless and inadequately sheltered people comprise almost half the inhabitants in large cities in developing countries in the year 1994 (UNCHS 1994: 9). Homelessness was in the past considered to be a problem for the developing countries but it is actually alarming in the developed countries. Kroes (1987) observed that in the Federal Republic of Germany the number of homeless single persons and couples that were living without a dwelling unit, without permanent accommodation and without a permanent residence was estimated to be 100,000 individuals in 1986; in the Netherlands between 32,500 and 77,000 people; in France


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500,000 people and in United Kingdom more than 100,000 households were homeless in 1986 during the same period (Kroes, 1987: 32-41). Avramov (1998: 25-26) highlights indicators for the population in European Union countries in the 1990s showing economic hardships and those at risk of shelter deprivation as: 57 million people live below the poverty threshold; 31 million people depend on welfare; 18 million people unemployed benefits; 15 million people live in severely substandard and overcrowded dwellings; 2.4 million people live in unconventional dwellings, which are mobile, semi-permanent or not built for human habitation; 2.7 million are affected with the problem of homelessness in each year, rotating between friends and relatives; and, 1.8 million people depend on public and voluntary services for homeless people. After food, housing is the largest item in poor family’s monthly expenditure as expended by 33% of global families, and 45% to 50% families in countries in Africa and Latin America (UNCHS 1994: 9). In Indonesia for example, some 800,000 new housing units are needed every year, excluding the backlog of 40.5 million units and the stock of sub-standard housing that needs to be improved (UNCHS 2006:10). In Tanzania, URT (2000a: 8) indicates a growing housing shortage which is confirmed by overcrowding levels. For instance, on the understanding that an occupancy rate of more than 2 persons per room constitutes overcrowding in urban areas, the percentage of families in crowded homes is 34.4% in Dar es Salaam, 34% in Mwanza, 37.4% in Arusha, 37.2% in Moshi, 38 in Dodoma, and 24.7% in Kigoma. URT (2000b: 41) shows that in 1991 there was a demand of 600,000 new housing units in urban areas in Tanzania. However, the thinking of what is meant by the term “shelter” differs from country to country. For instance what is regarded as a decent house in one context may be regarded as unfit for human habitation in another (Kroes 1987: 11). Oliver (1990: 1) argues that all houses are dwellings but all dwellings are not houses. He further argues that though there are millions of dwelling houses in the world, only a small proportion are designed by architects; one percent might well be an over-estimate Oliver (1990: 7). For some it is necessary to have a permanent structure but for others it may simply mean a temporary accommodation even if there is little evidence of building features as conventionally defined in the western society. For example, in Missungwi rural area in Tanzania like for many other African societies, there is a high attachment to cattle, and therefore a family with a good number of cattle is considered relatively affluent even if their houses are constructed by non-industrial building materials compared to a family with houses constructed by industrial building materials . Figure 1 exemplifies this scenario where housing is given a marginalized low priority compared to cattle.


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Head of the Dwelling Compound Considered “Affluent” Because of keeping a Big Number of Cattle

Head of the Dwelling Compound Considered “Poor” Because of not Keeping Cattle Though one of his Houses is Roofed by Industrial Building Material (Corrugated Iron sheets).

Figure 1: Local people’s Priorities between Shelter and Cattle: The Case of Missugwi Rural Area in Tanzania Source: 2007 Field Studies in Missungwi Rural Area in Tanzania Limited infrastructure in shelter adequacy in urban and rural context UNCHS (1994: 9) indicate that about 1.2 billion people in developing countries do not have access to drinking water and 1.8 billion people live without access to adequate sanitation. A study carried out by UNICEF in 1994 showed that 50% of the world’s poor live in the South East Asia and 16.1% live in Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of these people live in rural areas, while in other developing regions such as South America the majority of the poor are found in urban areas (URT 1998: 72). The UNDP (2002: 163-165) statistical data shows there were 6.05 billion people in the world in the year 2000 which is projected to rise to 7.2 billion by the year 2015. Moreover, it is estimated that by the year 2050 six billion people (or two-thirds of world population would be living in towns and cities (UNCHS 2006: 27).

Figure 2: Regional Trends, 1970 – 2025: Percentage of Population Residing in Urban Areas - Global Perspective Source: UNCHS 1996: 3


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Figure 2 shows worldwide regional trends for the population residing in urban areas from 1970 to the year 2025. Out of this, rural population is without adequate shelter and social services. Two billion lack accesses to commercial energy. Table 1.0 indicate water and sanitation provision scenario in different parts of the world. The situation is similar in Tanzania. Kyessi (2002) conducted a survey in Buguruni – Mnyamani in the Dar es Salaam urban area and found out that all infrastructure services including sanitation, water supply, roads, drainage and solid wastes were inadequate. Over 90% of all these services were either “very poor” or were not available (Kyessi, 2006:50) as indicated in figure 3. This is a common phenomenon in most of the unplanned urban settlements in most of the world cities. This is a sad and frustrating scenario where a decent shelter defines human dignity and integrity. URT (1996b: 19) stipulate that shelter in Tanzania is a major form of investment, a status symbol and a collateral. Table 1: World Urban Water and Sanitation Coverage in the 1994 SERVICE Africa Asia and

Pacific Middle

East Latin

America Water Percent of Population Covered 68.9 80.9 71.8 91.4 Percent Served by House Connection 65.0 48.4 89.7 92.0 Percent Served by Public Stand post 26.0 24.0 9.3 3.3 Others 9.0 27.6 0.0 4.7 Sanitation Percent of Population Covered 53.2 69.8 60.5 79.8 Percent Served by House Connection to Sewer/Septic System

53.0 42.7 100.0 91.2

Percent Served by Pour-flush Latrine 3.0 43.1 0.0 2.1 Percent Served by Ventilated Improved Pit Latrine 13.6 2.7 0.0 0.9 Simple Pit Latrines 22.4 8.5 0.0 5.4 Others 2.6 3.0 0.0 0.4 Source: UNCHS 1996: 22

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

S olid Was te

Drainage

F othpaths

Roads

Water S upply

S anitation

Good F air P oor Not available

Figure 3: Infrastructure Condition in Buguruni Mnyamani Urban Area in Dar es Salaam - Tanzania Source: Kyessi 2002:204


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Shelter and poverty in Tanzania Shelter inadequacy is one of the key indicators of poverty. By definition, poverty is the situation where an individual or community does not possess or has no access to resources required for their basic daily needs. In Tanzania, 19% of the population was below the food poverty line in 2001. Figure 4 indicates that 36% of Tanzanians lived below the basic need poverty line by the year 2000/01 (URT 2002: 81).

Figure 4: Percentage of the Population Below the Basic Needs Poverty Line Source: URT 2002:81

Figure 5 shows projections for poverty from 2001 to 2010 in accordance to various Government Economic Surveys in the period between 2002 and 2004 (URT 2005: 7). It is forecast that by the year 2010, the poverty incidence will drop to 23.1% at the national level, 26.6% for the rural population, and to as low as 8.8% for the urban population (ibid). Proportionally, there will be an improvement in shelter adequacy by the year 2010 as a result of poverty reduction.

Figure 5: Projected Poverty 2001 – 2010 in Tanzania Source: URT 2005: 7


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In Tanzania, 60% of the urban population lives in unplanned settlements without shelter services. The remaining 40% of the urban population lives in planned and serviced areas (URT 2000a: 41). However, the proportion of urban population in unplanned settlements in Tanzania varies from 40 to 75 per cent depending on the size of the town or city. For instance 75% of the population in Dar es Salaam is living in unplanned settlements. Moreover, houses constructed in unplanned urban settlements account for 60% of all urban residential houses. Furthermore, only 35% of all urban residential houses are in compliance with development controls and regulations (URT 2000b:8). Eighty percent of the population in Tanzania lives in rural settlements (URT 2001: 1-3). However, there is no shortage of dwelling units in rural areas, but the qualitative dimension of these dwelling units with regard to meeting the basic requirement of minimum standards remains highly debatable. Sixty percent of the households in rural areas depend on wells for their water supply while 13% have communal taps, 5.8% are connected to water pipes and 21.2% use other means including direct sourcing from rivers. Various government reports show that in the year 2006 the number of people supplied with clean water increased to 76% of the urban population (URT 2006:191). Health status and the improvement of quality of life and social well-being in Tanzania by the year 2007 was measured by infant mortality rate, under-five mortality rate, maternal mortality ratio, and it was found that the life expectancy at birth was only 51 years for males and females (URT 2007: 31). Health care institutions in Tanzania consist of 173 hospitals, 276 health centres and 3,017 dispensaries. In 2000 it was estimated that more than 30% of the people in Tanzania lived 5 kms or more from these facilities (URT 2000b: 35). Shelter inadequacy in Tanzania is further demonstrated by the extent of the provision of social services such as electricity, water supply and solid waste management. Table 2 shows that only 10% of Tanzanian households were connected to the national power grid and 1.6% were using solar electricity in the year 2001, and that only 2.6% of rural households were connected to the electricity supply in 2001 (URT 2002: 17). Figure 6 shows encouraging trends, with between 20% to 94% of households using improved water sources, but the percentages of households with electricity supply in figure 7 are generally less than 10%. The sectorial contribution of electricity and water supply to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the year 2006 at constant prices of 1992 was only 1.4% in Tanzania (URT 2006:19) as shown in figure 8. Similarly, only 0.3% of rural households are connected to public sewers (URT 2000b: 9). Rwiza (2001: 5) indicates that by 2050 fifty percent of urban dwellers will be living in unserviced settlements with resultant urban pollution problem. For instance, at present, only 13% of the solid wastes generated in Dar es Salaam are collected and disposed or recycled. Table 2: Percentage of Households with Electricity in Tanzania Measure Dar-es-Salaam Other Urban

Centres Rural Areas Mainland

Tanzania Any Electricity (HBS 1991/92)

51.4 21.7 2.6 8.5

Grid Electricity (HBS 2000/01)

58.9 29.7 2.0 10.0

Solar Electricity (HBS 2000/01)

1.3 1.7 1.6 1.6

Source: URT 2002:17


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Figure 6: Percentage of Households Using Improved Water Sources (Piped Water and Protected Sources) in Tanzania Source: URT 2002: 15

Figure 7: Percentage of Households with Mains Electricity in Tanzania Source: URT 2002: 24

Figure 8: Sectorial Contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (2006) at Constant 1992 Prices in Tanzania Source: URT 2006: 19


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Construction industry in shelter provision in Tanzania The construction industry makes a significant contribution to tackling shelter inadequacy but it is suffering from a huge shortage of qualified professionals to bring in shelter adequacy in Tanzania. For instance, by the year 2006 there were only 3,628 registered contractors in the building, civil, electrical and mechanical engineering fields (Mwombeki 2006: 3); 180 registered architects and 125 registered quantity surveyors (Marress 2006: 1) to serve Tanzanian population of 38,669,744 (URT 2006: 87), a country of 945,000 km². Figure 8 shows that sectorial contribution of the construction industry was only 5.6% to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2006 at constant 1992 prices (URT 2006:19). The use of permanent building materials, sometimes referred as industrial building materials (IBM) or “modern materials” for walls and roofs is quite limited as shown in figures 9 and 10. Modern materials referred in this context by URT (URT, 2002) are: stones, burnt bricks, concrete blocks for walls; metal sheets, tiles, concrete cement and asbestos sheets for roofs. In Tanzania, household percentages with residential house walls constructed by modern building materials are very low except for the Ruvuma and Dar es Salaam regions, with 67% and 88% respectively. There are only four regions where there are over 50% of the households with residential house roofs made of modern materials, namely Kagera (53%), Arusha (53%), Kilimanjaro (85%), Mbeya (53%) and Dar es Salaam (98%). The permanence status of dwelling houses largely indicates shelter condition with respect to durability aspects.

Figure 9: Percentage of Households Dwellings with Modern Walls in Tanzania Source: URT 2002: 23

Figure 10: Percentage of Households in Dwellings with a Roof of Modern Materials in Tanzania Source: URT 2002:23

Further insights in the case of Tanzania through the household budget survey (URT 2002: 160) shows that the numbers of houses that were built using industrially produced materials such as cement, corrugated iron sheets and roofing tiles were 13% for floors, 17% for walls and only 31% for roofs in the rural areas. In the urban areas the situation was different with 71% for floors, 45% for walls and 88% for roofs. The average for both rural and urban combined is as low as 26% for floors, 25% for walls and 43% for roofs. Figure 11 indicates the increase on dwellings percentages that were constructed by industrial building materials between 1991/92 and 2000/01, but still below 50% for floors, walls and roofs. These


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percentages show that the housing provision as a factor in shelter adequacy in Tanzania is below the expected average.

Figure 11: Percentage of Dwellings Constructed with Modern Materials (Industrial Building materials) in Tanzania Source: URT 2002: 15

Conclusion and recommendations It is clear that world population is not adequately sheltered. More than 65% of the world population is living in un-serviced urban and rural settlements. Basic social services are not adequately available. International and national policies should be formulated to upgrade and provide shelter services for both rural and urban dwellers. Areas for in-depth studies should include housing development policies and strategies towards adequate shelter with improved housing, social services such as water, electricity, sanitation, health, and security. Governments should encourage and promote housing cooperatives and financial institution in a deliberate effort of achieving global shelter adequacy. Specifically, governments should enhance the involvement of the private sector in shelter delivery, encourage the provision of surveyed and serviced residential plots, stimulate research and development into low cost building materials and technologies to raise the affordability level to the world majority because of the persistence of poverty level in both rural and urban areas. Governments should play a key role in fostering shelter adequacy through realistic shelter policies, institutions and legal framework which will facilitate the involvement of community-based organisations and private developers. To achieve shelter adequacy, there is a serious need for a multi-dimensional governmental approach which must encompass economic, social, political, institutional, technical and environmental aspects and interests.


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References Avramov, D., (ed.), (1998), Youth Homelessness in the European Union, FEANTSA, Brussels. Kyessi, A., (2006), Participation and Partnership in Sanitation Improvement in Informal Housing Areas Case of Buguruni Mnyamani, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, In: The Journal of Building and Land Development, Vo13, Nos. 2, pp. 49-64. Kyessi, A., (2002), Community Participation in Urban Infrastructure Provision Servicing Informal Settlements in Dar-es-Salaam, Spring Research Series No.33, Dortmund. Kironde, L., (2005), New Government in Dar-es-Salaam Must Move on Housing Issue: in “Business Times”, ISSN 0856 – 2814 No. 893, of Friday, October 21-28, 2005, Dar es Salaam. Kroes, H., (1987), Homelessness in Industrialised Countries, IFHP, Hague. Marress, I., (2006), The Role of the Architects and Quantity Surveyors Registration Board in Regulating the Construction Industry, In: Workshop Proceedings on Regulation of Construction Industry in Tanzania, 19th October 2006, Dar es Salaam. Mwombeki, F., (2006), The Role of the Contractors Registration Board (CRB) in Regulating the Construction Industry, In: Workshop Proceedings on Regulation of Construction Industry in Tanzania, 19th October 2006, Dar es Salaam. Oliver, P., (1987), Dwellings The House Across the World, University of Texas Press, Austin Texas. UNCHS, (2006), Cities – Magnets of Hope, United Nations Publications, Nairobi. UNCHS, (1996), United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (HABITAT II), United Nations Publications, Nairobi. UNCHS, (1994), Shelter Forum Bulletin No 6/August 1994, United Nations Publications, Nairobi. UNCHS, (1990), Human Settlements and Sustainable Development: The Role of Human Settlements and of Human Settlement Policies in Meeting Development Goals and in Addressing the Issues of Sustainability at Global and Local Levels, United Nations Publications, Nairobi. UNDP, (2002), Human Development Report 2002: Deepening Democracy in Fragmented World, Oxford University Press, Oxford. URT (2007), Poverty and Human development Report 2007, Government Printer, Dar es Salaam. URT, (2006), The Economic Survey, Government Printer, Dar es Salaam. URT (2005), Poverty and Human Development Report 2005, Mkuki and Nyota Publishers, Dar es Salaam.


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URT (2002), Household Budget Survey 2000/01, Colour Print Tanzania Limited, Dar es Salaam. URT, (2001), The Economic Survey, Government Printer, Dar es Salaam. URT, (2000a), National Human Settlements Development Policy, Government Printer, Dar es Salaam. URT, (2000b), Composite Development Goal for the Tanzania Development Vision 2025, Government Printer, Dar es Salaam. URT, (1998), The Economic Survey 1998, Government Printer, Dar es Salaam URT, (1996a), Budget Speech, Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Government Printer, Dar es Salaam. URT (1996b), Report on Human Settlement Development in Tanzania for Habitat II, Government Printer, Dar es Salaam. Rwiza, K. (2001), Sustainable Development – Unattainable, In: The Journal of Building and Land Development, Vol.8, Nos. 1-3, pp. 1-17. Verschure, H., (2004), Unpublished Lecture Notes for Post Graduate Masters Course in Human Settlements, K.U.Leuven, Department ASRO, Leuven.

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