Assessing the participation of youth in the delivery of low cost housing: a case study of uMlazi sections B and G.

Abstract

South Africa is experiencing a high rate of youth unemployment (24%) compared to its counter parts. This is due to a variety of reasons like the legacy of the apartheid inequality, poor education, poverty and slow economic growth. The majority of the unemployed are mainly young people between the ages of 18 to 35. Worse, some of the unemployed youth are graduates who find it difficult to secure employment opportunities with the qualifications that they have obtained. One of the objectives of the housing policy is to use the delivery of low cost housing as one of mechanisms to create job opportunities more especially for the youth. The key question of the study looked at the impact of the participation of youth in the delivery of low cost housing at uMlazi sections B and G. The study used qualitative method of data collection. The study found that young people of uMlazi sections B and G did participate in the delivery of low cost housing. The study recommends that the South African government should review the current preferential policies to include youth as a specific target for employment and encourage employment agencies in other sectors outside built environment to implement this provision. The study concluded that the government has played a significant role in ensuring the involvement of youth in service delivery; but the study also calls for more commitment from the side of local government and political will especially on eThekwini municipality to continue ensuring the increase on the number of young people that take part in the delivery of housing.