Evaluating Tenure Intervention in Informal Settlements in The functioning of informal settlements prior to capital subsidy

Informal settlement intervention in South Africa is structured through the current national housing policy, which entitles low-income households to a oneoff capital subsidy. Developed by the Urban Foundation in the late 1980s and mainstreamed through the Independent Development Trust (IDT) capital subsidy scheme in the early 1990s, this approach is geared towards the delivery of standardized serviced sites. For the implementation of the development concept promoted by the Urban Foundation, the IDT was set up in 1990 with a R2 billion government grant dedicated to social upliftment. Through the IDT, 100,000 households (primarily resident in informal settlements) were to benefit from capital subsidies in the form of serviced sites.