The Complexities of Local-Level Housing Policy Implementation: Upgrading Informal Settlements in Johannesburg, South Africa

This chapter examines the complexities of urban policy implementation in a context where access to housing has historically been denied to most of the population, and thus forms part of state redistributive mechanisms in South Africa. Pragmatic decision-making is not as simple as it seems, nor are centralist policy intentions easily translated to implementation. Using an illustrative case study of the City of Johannesburg, which includes secondary and empirical data sources, this chapter examines policy incoherence, interpretation, and contestation as it pertains to informal settlement upgrading. The paper’s analysis of key policy instruments demonstrates ambiguity about responsibilities between spheres of government and deservedness of residents. While complex ambiguity is hardwired into the policy language on the one hand, on the other, complexity also highlights peculiarities about how City officials interpret policy and justify implementation. Two key informant interviews are used to illustrate these complex interpretations. The paper shows that because of the detailed technical processes around informal settlement upgrading, politics is not the main factor that inhibits efficient upgrading of informal settlements. Instead, complexities about implementation, interpretation/discretion, and contestation about governance spheres of responsibility, are much more fundamental to how housing interventions and spatial justice play out.