Resources

There are currently 87,000 unoccupied homes in the central region of the city of São Paulo. What would be the impact of fully utilising this housing potential? This study by Instituto Polis demonstrates that allocating idle properties and empty land in the central area of ​​São Paulo for low-income housing could contribute to fair energy transition strategies and climate mitigation and adaptation.

A series of policy briefs that elaborate on six key themes in housing policy, providing examples of innovative approaches and possible entry points to deliver equitable and inclusive outcomes. The themes are policy frameworks; governance approaches; participation; access to land; housing finance; and local building materials.

A report assessesing how local and regional governments are advancing the right to adequate housing to meet the UN’s housing-related Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets, describing the importance of local knowledge, and the power of grassroots organisations and local governments to translate the objective of adequate housing into positive action towards that goal.

In an effort to advocate for affordable housing and more inclusive cities, Think Housing competition sought innovative proposals for inclusive urban housing options that challenge the dominant models of urban development by reversing ongoing displacements of low and middle-income residents from the city. Teams of multidisciplinary practitioners and/or students were invited to articulate feasible proposals that respond to the imperative of inclusive housing.

This article argues that the everyday city-making practices of the ‘unsheltered’ are inextricably linked to the politics of bare citizenship. As those stigmatised become individualised, isolated and undermined, they also are deprived of being part of a collective experience and are deeply challenged to reclaim their agency as entitled citizens.

This Habitat for Humanity and IIED report for the "Home Equals" campaing shows that the substantial benefits from increased access to adequate housing not only improve the lives of those living in informal settlements but also affect entire societies.

How do global coalitions of civil society, non-governmental and community-based organisations, social movements and academics, make visible, defend and produce habitat rights? This conversation with the President of the Habitat International Coalition (HIC), Adriana Allen, examines HIC’s perspectives on the practices, knowledges and pedagogies for translocal housing activism through reflections structured along several themes.

This Resource Guide is the outcome of a Summer Institute on Methodologies for Housing Justice convened by the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy as part of the Housing Justice in Unequal Cities Network. The Resource Guide foregrounds innovative methods that are being used by researchers across academia and activism and explicitly situates such methods in an orientation towards housing justice. 

A publication arguing for a shift in South Africa's housing delivery model away from housing projects built by large private developers and towards proper support and funding for self-built housing. While quite technical in nature, the core argument that the state cannot withdraw its funding and support for housing construction as it moves away from direct provision is incredibly important in the South African context. By Isandla Institute & Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa

Publication explaining how to approach informal settlement upgrading from the perspective of the Just Urban Transition. The first publication in South Africa to explicitly look at and engage with this question in any real way. By Isandla Institute.

Publication examining how the City of Cape Town could actively support the delivery of small-scale rental housing to boost housing supply, encourage formalisation, improve the city's urban form, stimulate more equitable income and address infrastructure challenges. By Development Action Group and the Human Sciences Research Council.

An advocacy publication which challenges the use of centrally located public land as parking lots for government vehicles. The report argues that it makes no sense from a housing justice or city-building perspective to use valuable public land to park government vehicles. A set of alternative proposals are put forward that center the social function of public land. By Ndifuna Ukwazi