Low income housing problems and low-income housing solutions: opportunities and challenges in Bulawayo

The provision of housing for the low-income has been a major problem in many countries and the developing world has been hard hit. This inability has been the chief cause of the burgeoning slum settlement in cities of the globe where one billion people live in slum areas. The solution to the housing problem lies in the opening up of stakeholders' participation in the provision of housing, where government, non-governmental organisation, multilateral agencies and the community can play a critical role. Critical in the whole process is the participation of urban poor in the provision of housing for the poor, where they are critical actors in defining housing programmes that best suit the urban poor. This research seeks to analyse the initiatives that have been taken by the urban poor in the city of Bulawayo in providing housing for the poor. The research made use both qualitative and quantitative methodologies in investigating the matter. Questionnaire was the main instrument to collect quantitative data and interviews and field observations were used to collect qualitative data. The research showed that there are a lot positive initiatives by the urban poor in the city of Bulawayo to provide house for the urban poor and these initiatives appear appealing to the poor as they are giving them a roof over their heads, which was never a dream in their lives. Though they appear noble they however fall far too short to provide sustainable housing to the poor as they appear to be a potential health hazard for the city. There is need for city authorities or any interested stakeholder to provide more support to such initiatives so that they can provide more sustainable housing for the poor. This will produce a housing scheme that will contribute to reduction of slum dwellers as called by the Millennium Development Goals.