Housing and Urbanization in Africa : Unleashing a Formal Market Process

Collier, Paul ; Venables, Anthony J.

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCESS TO FINANCE;    ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS;    AFFORDABILITY;    AFFORDABLE HOUSING;    ARCHITECT;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-6871
RP-ID  :  WPS6871

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The accumulation of decent housingmatters both because of the difference it makes to livingstandards and because of its centrality to economicdevelopment. The consequences for living standards arefar-reaching. In addition to directly conferring utility,decent housing improves health and enables children to dohomework. It frees up women's time and enables them toparticipate in the labor market. More subtly, a home and itsenvirons affect identity and self-respect. Commentary on theemergence of an African middle class has become common, butit is being defined in terms of discretionary spending andpotential for consumer markets. A politically more salientdefinition of a middle class will be in terms of homeownership and the consequent stake in economic stability.This paper examines why such a process has not happened inAfrica. The hypothesis is that the peculiarity of housingexposes it to multiple points of vulnerability not foundtogether either in private consumer goods or in othercapital goods. Each point of vulnerability can be addressedby appropriate government policies, but addressing only oneor two of them has little payoff if the others remainunresolved. Further, the vulnerabilities faced by housingare the responsibility of distinct branches of government,with little natural collaboration. Unblocking multipleimpediments to housing therefore requires coordination thatcan come only from the head of government: ministries ofhousing have neither the political weight nor the analyticcapacity to play this role effectively. Yet in Africa,housing has never received such high political priority.This in turn is because the centrality of housing inwell-being and of housing investment in development has notbeen sufficiently appreciated.