Housing Entrepreneurs in South Africa

In 2006, the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa (CAHF) published a study into housing entrepreneurs in South Africa. The central question of the research was: If the housing asset is not performing as a financial asset for low income earners, might there be a different way homeowners can make money from their housing?

The research focused on small-scale landlords and home-based enterprises in the inner cities and townships of Gauteng. It found that housing provides a critical platform for residents to become entrepreneurs, either as small-scale landlords or home-based enterprises, earning an income and building their asset wealth while also supplying much needed affordable rental accommodation for other low income households. As housing entrepreneurs operate at the nexus of housing and local economic development strategies, using housing as an economically productive asset that makes an important contribution to the South African economy, they should be supported by policy.