Abstracts

70 for any given building’s footprint. Proponents of this rental model argue that properly run properties would be more sustainable than RDP houses, especially if they were privately administered. Steen Villa in Cape Town is a good example of a state-subsidized rental complex managed and run by a nonprofit organization with high rent collection rates and large community satisfaction. However, most people residing in Steen Villa would not be able to afford the rent without subsidy. This is why some suggest moving government funding from RDP projects into state- subsidized renting options. Projects like Steen Villa could be readily implemented in cities across the country (GroundUp, 2018). Despite the positives, this rental model still has weaknesses. What happens when people cannot meet rent due to unforeseen financial hardships? The simple answer is eviction, but that is intimately tied to structural inequalities that access to urban housing should be addressing. Routine eviction practices adversely affect already historically underprivileged populations. Often, subjugated populations do not have the privilege of economic security and forcing people onto the streets for failure to meet rent only replicates cycles of disadvantage, instead of disrupting them. The real potential for such financial hardships within the housing context reveals a further need to implement rent payment security strategies in conjunction with housing projects like Steen Villa. Community-based Upgrades: Empower Shack and Hustlenomics Community-based solutions generally are the most appropriate approach for the local context in which they are created, for, when it comes to interrupting systems of inequality, there is no one size fits all. Due to the prevalence of self-constructed housing settlements like the backyard dwellings, another promising approach is the renovation or improvement of these informal structures and surrounding amenities. The improvement and formalization of such housing are a community-based approach, easily adapted to accommodate various needs in different communities, and resources can be distributed efficiently through centering community involvement. Empower Shack Empower Shack is one such project that seeks to renovate settlements, increase access to basic services, and center the communities in the process of distributing public space. This was a project created through Urban–Think Tank (UTT), the interdisciplinary, research- based, design practice founded by Alfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpner. Empower Shack seeks to create more dense structures, providing an opportunity and framework to move from one-story to two-story units (UTT, 2019). This technique serves as a more efficient use of land by accommodating more people on the same building footprint. Empower Shack also works with informal settlements to connect their construction with renewable energy, sustainable resources, and community skills training. Experts erect and build the framework with affordable and durable materials while providing community workshops that allow community members to complete the inside of the units. Additionally, Empower Shack allows residents to be woven into the digitalized planning process for new developments. Residents are able to modify the position of their house with an interactive map, automatically reconfiguring the adjacent homes to fit the new pattern. These structures are funded through a microfinance scheme, where individuals put up 10% to 25% of the construction costs and microfinance providers cover the rest of the cost through microloans of 36 months (UTT, 2019). Overall, Empower Shack seems to be a sustainable scheme that could work on a national scale with the proper support. Hustlenomics Hustlenomics is a project started by a local entrepreneur from Soweto named Nhlanhla Ndlovu and follows the same framework of renovating informal housing, giving community members levels of choice and resources to improve living conditions (SAB