1. Ethiopian Civil Service University
College of Urban Development & Engineering
INTRODUCTION TO HOUSING (HDM: 6011)
By : Goitom Abraha Baraki(PhD)
Portion One
3. 1. Concepts of housing
2. Housing Careers
3. People and the Built Form
Contents to be Covered in the sessions
4. Introduction to Concepts of Housing
• The concept and meaning of housing vary among scholars
depending upon their culture and academic background.
• Different literature draws special attention to the concept
“housing”, however, there is no common definition.
• Housing is one of the most important life components giving
shelter, safety and warmth, as well as providing related services.
• Housing is a second basic necessity of human beings after food.
• The need for housing is not only one of the basic human need,
but also the indicator of living standard of the population.
• Thus, housing is considered as a living environment consisting
of the dwelling units; the infrastructure associated with the
dwelling units such as roads, water supply system, sewage
system and electricity.
5. Introduction to Concepts of Housing … Cont’d
• Housing may be seen as a product and a process.
• By housing as a product implies the dwelling unit and its
design, basically built in equipment, amount of space
allocation, heating, lightening and sanitary facilities.
• Housing as a process also accounts for a considerable
portion of a nation’s housing production activities through its
land markets, building material industries and labor markets
as well as its financial markets.
• Therefore, housing is a basic need and part of the critical
human rights providing not only shelter but also the private
and dynamic setting for many social activities and
interactions.
6. Introduction to Concepts of Housing … Cont’d
• Generally, the concept “housing” has changed from being a fairly
simple concept to one that is more complex, moving initially from
the need to the development of housing.
• In brief, the concept of housing development appears as follows :
1) The Narrow Concept: this refers to the dwelling where people
live, or the materialistic building established from the walls and
roof.
2) The Broad Concept: this incorporates the narrow concept but
also includes assistance services, which motivate people to live in
the house with stability.
• It means more than walls and a roof but must, at the minimum,
meet the following criteria: security of tenure, availability of
services, facilities, and infrastructure, habitability, accessibility,
location and cultural adequacy.
7. Introduction to Concepts of Housing … Cont’d
• The right to adequate housing is a fundamental human right,
enshrined in various international human rights treaties and
instruments, and applying equally to all people, everywhere.
• The housing policies and programs of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (UDHR) 25(1) stipulate that everyone should own a
house, be they from high, medium or low-income groups.
• Universal Declaration of Human Right Article states that everyone has
the right to standard of living adequate for the health and well-being
of himself and of his family, including housing and necessary social
services.
• Adequacy should be determined together with the people
concerned, bearing in mind the prospect for gradual development.
• Adequacy often varies from country to country, since it depends on
specific cultural, social, environmental and economic factors.
• Gender-specific and age-specific factors, such as the exposure of
children and women to toxic substances, should be considered.
8. Adequate Housing
• Adequate shelter means more than a roof over one's head.
• It means adequate privacy; adequate space; physical accessibility;
adequate security; security of tenure; structural stability and
durability; adequate lighting, heating and ventilation; adequate
basic infrastructure, such as water-supply, sanitation and waste-
management facilities; suitable environmental quality and health-
related factors; and adequate and accessible location with regard
to work and basic facilities: all of which should be available at an
affordable cost.
• Therefore, adequate housing is defined as : adequate privacy,
adequate space, adequate security, adequate lighting and
ventilation, adequate basic infrastructure and adequate location
with regard to work and basic facilities-all at a reasonable cost.
9. Seven Principles to Elaborate on Housing Adequacy
• 1. Legal Security of Tenure: Tenure takes a variety of forms,
including rental (public and private) accommodation, cooperative
housing, lease, owner-occupation, emergency housing and informal
settlements, including occupation of land or property.
• Notwithstanding the type of tenure, all persons should possess a
degree of security of tenure which guarantees legal protection
against forced eviction, harassment and other threats.
• 2. Availability of Services, Materials, Facilities and Infrastructure:
An adequate house must contain certain facilities essential for
health, security, comfort and nutrition.
• All beneficiaries of the right to adequate housing should have
sustainable access to natural and common resources, potable
drinking water, energy for cooking, heating and lighting, sanitation
and washing facilities, food storage, refuse disposal, site drainage
and emergency services.
10. Seven Principles to Elaborate on Housing Adequacy…Cont’d
• 3. Affordable: Personal or household financial costs associated
with housing should be at such a level that the attainment and
satisfaction of other basic needs are not threatened or
compromised, Steps should be taken by States parties to ensure
that the percentage of housing-related costs is, in general,
commensurate(matching) with income levels.
• States parties should establish housing subsidies for those unable
to obtain affordable housing, as well as forms and levels of
housing finance which adequately reflect housing needs.
• In accordance with the principle of affordability tenants should be
protected from unreasonable rent levels or rent increases by
appropriate means.
11. Seven Principles to Elaborate on Housing Adequacy…Cont’d
• 4. Habitable: Adequate housing must be habitable, in terms of
providing the inhabitants with adequate space and protecting them
from cold, damp, heat, rain, wind or other threats to health,
structural hazards, and disease vectors, the physical safety of
occupants must be guaranteed as well.
• States should comprehensively apply the "Health Principles of
Housing" prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO) which
view housing as the environmental factor most frequently associated
with disease conditions in epidemiological analyses; i.e. inadequate
and deficient housing and living conditions are invariably associated
with higher mortality and morbidity(disease) rates.
• Safe and adequate water supply , Sanitary disposal of excreta,
Disposal of solid wastes, Drainage of surface waters, Personal and
domestic hygiene, Safe food preparation, and Structural safeguards
against disease transmission.
12. Seven Principles to Elaborate on Housing Adequacy…Cont’d
• 5. Accessibility: Adequate housing must be accessible to those
entitled to it.
• Disadvantaged groups must be accorded full and sustainable access
to adequate housing resources.
• Thus, such disadvantaged groups as the elderly, children, the
physically disabled, the terminally ill, HIV-positive individuals, persons
with persistent medical problems, the mentally ill, victims of natural
disasters, people living in disaster-prone areas and other groups
should be ensured some degree of priority consideration in the
housing sphere.
• Both housing law and policy should take fully into account the
special housing needs of these groups.
13. Seven Principles To Elaborate On Housing Adequacy…Cont’d
• 6. Location: Adequate housing must be in a location which allows
access to employment options, health care services, schools, child
care centers and other social facilities.
• This is both true in large cities and in small towns where the temporal
and financial costs of getting to and from places of work can place
excessive demands upon the budgets of poor households, Similarly,
housing should not be built on polluted sites nor in immediate
proximity to pollution sources that threaten the right to health of the
inhabitants.
• 7. Culturally Adequate: The way housing is constructed, the building
materials used and the policies supporting these must appropriately
enable the expression of cultural identity and diversity of housing.
• Activities geared towards development or modernization in the
housing sphere should ensure that the cultural dimensions of
housing.
14. • Housing classifications could be useful for developing housing
policy and implementing it, as well as for housing statistics.
• Housing is classified by the housing type, size, housing
amenities, location, group of population living in the housing,
type of ownership rights, construction period of the housing; and
construction materials used in the exterior wall of the housing.
• The developed types of classification of housing according the
different characteristics is shown as follows:
• Classification by housing type: villa or apartment type…etc
• By housing size: One-room, Two-room, Three-room, and more.
• By housing amenities: with all amenities, with part of amenities
and without amenities.
• By housing location: Housing in a city and Housing in rural
territory.
Housing Classification
15. Housing Classification … Cont’d
• By construction materials used in the exterior wall of the
housing: Brick wall, Wood, concrete, mud, stone etc.
• By group of population living in the housing: Any resident,
Persons with low-middle-high income, or other social group
at risk.
• By housing ownership rights: State-owned housing, rental,
or cooperative housing…. etc.
16. Housing Need
• Housing ‘demand’ is a market driven concept and relates to the type
and number of houses that households will choose to occupy based
on preference and ability to pay.
• Housing need refers to the demand for a quantity and quality house
that households would like to buy.
• Housing ‘need’ is an indicator of existing deficit: the number of
households that do not have access to accommodation that meets
certain normative standards.
• The number of households is projected to grow and more housing
will need to be constructed in order to accommodate this growth.
• It can take time for policies and investment to translate into housing
starts; as a result of this the Government uses medium to long term
projections of population and household growth to produce
estimates of the number of new homes that will be needed.
17. Housing Need….Cont’d
• To understand the housing need of different households, three
components such as housing affordability, housing condition, and
overcrowding(number of occupants exceeds the capacity of the
dwelling space available )are commonly used .
• The idea of imbalance between housing demand and supply or
housing deficit is a common framework for housing policy.
• There are generally two components to a housing deficit: housing
considered to be of substandard quality and needs improvement and
an insufficient number of housing units.
• As the urban population of a city increases, so does the needs for
more housing.
• Thus, the appropriate housing policy response to housing deficit is
that building more and quality houses.
18. Housing Need … Cont’d
• The task of housing needs assessment consists of identifying
and quantifying the types of housing products that are
needed by each income group.
• Effective housing demand is based on the ability and
willingness to pay for housing, affected by income and what
households are prepared to pay.
• It requires reliable data on income levels, saving capacity, the
state of the housing market and expenditure patterns of
households, both for housing and non-housing expense.
• housing need varies with household size, income, household
formation and life cycle stages.
19. Housing Demand and Supply … Cont’d
• Emergency shelters: Short-term housing for homeless people.
• Transitional housing: Medium-term housing for previously
homeless or addicted people.
• Social housing: Subsidized housing for people with
disabilities and other special needs.
• Affordable rental housing: Rental housing affordable to
low and middle-income households.
• Affordable home ownership: Housing affordable for
Purchase by low and middle-income households.
• Housing demands range from a small number people who need
subsidized social housing to a much larger number of
households that need housing to rent or purchase.
20. Housing Careers
• Generally, every human being has preference to live in comfort
home and suits with their need.
• Home is not ending product, but evolutional, sustain and
incremental development process.
• Its implication is repairing home or moving to other home, it’s
called housing career.
• Housing career characteristic in urban area differ from one to
another place.
• Housing career may be at improving home quality (home repair),
heightening house building in order not to be suffused when floods
and rob happen or extend the house (room addition).
• This housing career characteristic is evaluated from dwelling
pattern, time of live, home status, repairing home activity, job, and
biological factors: amount of family, also economic factors: income.
21. Housing Careers..Cont’d
• Housing choices are intertwined with decisions about family
status, job access and the whole set of decisions.
• A central question has revolved around just how the ‘housing
career’ is interconnected with the other ‘careers’ in the job market
and the family.
• Changes in household composition, increases in wealth, the
triggers of births and local job changes influence the likelihood of
a household moving to a new house and a new neighborhood.
• The range of activities in the housing sector are : Housing
Management, Maintenance, Business Development, Finance and
Marketing , Tenant Involvement and Participation, Policy and
Research.
22. Housing Careers…Cont’d
• The housing career is the sequence of housing states defined
in terms of tenure and the quality/price of the dwellings that
households occupy while they make parallel careers in family
status and the job market.
• There is a close relationship between the type of housing
career and a household’s income and income growth.
• Regional variation in tenure composition and the price of the
stock have a strong influence on the development of the
housing careers in different regions.
• Housing careers are notable for having a trend in quality, price
and tenure of the sequence of dwellings occupied.
• A career metaphor emphasizes the distinct steps which
individuals and households take as they go through the
process of improving their housing.
23. Biological Aspect (Life Cycle) Housing Careers
• We know that young households move more often than older
households and that those moves are more likely to occur for
households in rental housing.
• The housing career will be more active and less stable in early stages
of the life course, and more regular and more stable in the later
stages of the life-course.
• In the early years of the housing career, we know that choices of
rental housing predominate, often in the lower-cost segments of the
market.
• Households that have made the transition to ownership and are
beyond the first stages of the household and job careers, may be
expected to stay where they live over long periods.
• The evidence reveals how longer-term dynamics in growing labor
market insecurity and inequality have undermined the stable, well-
paid jobs needed for accessing home purchase, exacerbated by
24. Ecological Concept Housing Career
• Housing career showed by housing movement from parental
house to another house. This movement conducted by people in
early independence stage, or new young couple marry in
Indonesia. Mostly, they move to temporary house (rent house).
• Theoretically, they will move to permanent house (own their self)
together with increasing of economic condition. More over them
will repair or renovate the house according to their preference.
• Housing career also showed by moving to better house (ideal and
comfort) according to housing perception and preference, while
economic aspect do not be the dominant aspect.
• Like mention previously that housing career does not only
concerning housing movement, but also housing improvement.
Real condition indicates that house repair – housing quality
repair or housing extend – more reasonable and reachable than
move to a new house.
25. Housing Careers Characteristics
• The main characteristics of housing career are:
• (1) The majority of housing careers will show trend in housing
consumption in terms of size, quality/price and tenure in the
sequence of dwellings occupied; the move from renting to
owning is a crucial step in this sequence.
• (2) For many households, the top of the housing career will be
in ownership; job career and income level and income growth
will largely determine in which part of the housing stock.
• (3) There will be a large variety in the types of housing career
observed across the various types of household in terms of
stage in the life-course and income level and growth.
• (4) There will be large differences in price levels and tenure
composition of the housing stock across space; these
differences will be reflected in the housing careers of
households in different housing markets.
26. People and the Built Form
• Throughout history, architecture(building form) has stood as a
representation of society, reflecting the values, successes, and
eventual downfall of civilizations over time.
• From the monumental structures to the residences and
buildings that make up the fabric of a city, we can learn a lot
about who the people were who inhabited them long before
our time.
• The style of buildings was originally shaped by the climate of a
particular location, what materials were readily available, as
well as the values of the society building them.
• As the world became more and more connected, the styles
evolved, but even in modern construction, there is still an
importance in honoring the cultural nuances in the built
environment.
27. People and the Built Form
• The current fascination with what people term postmodern
architecture has focused attention to the design of buildings
in which we live and work.
• During the last several decades anthropologists have been
increasingly joined by others in taking a more careful look at
the built environments of nonliterate societies, and especially
the shelters they construct and occupy.
• The questions posed are broad: Why are there differences in
built forms? What is the nature of these differences and what
kinds of social and cultural factors might be responsible for
the variation?
• Design practitioners, including architects, landscape
architects, and planners, have become involved in debating
these questions, as have behavioral and social scientists
concerned with human interactions with the environment.
28. People and the Built Form
• Culture reflected in architecture helps create or maintain identity in
today’s world of globalization and internationalism. It also helps
maintain the integrity of the society.
• This principle makes sure that the user is a good member of the
society he/she belongs to. Hence good societies need architecture
sensitive to their culture.
• It is important to consider the way culture can reflect in and
simultaneously influence the growth of the architectural medium.
• We must realize that architecture and culture are two sides of the
same coin. The faster we realize that the better. We can avoid the
progression of architectural uniformity of the future world.
• People should always be allowed to express themselves and
buildings should let them.
29. • Generally speaking, it includes built forms, which are defined as
building types (such as dwellings, temples, or meeting houses)
created by humans to shelter, define, and protect activity.
• Further, built forms may also refer to specific elements of buildings
(such as doors, windows, roofs, walls, floors, and chimneys) or to
spatial subdivisions of buildings (such as rooms-their sizes and
function, arrangement and connections), which are often referred to
in terms of their plans.
• some characteristics of scientific thought are useful in the design
process, and design methodology is in part the application of science-
like order and discipline to the process of design.
• Models of design in architecture, applications of design methodology
in architecture, and overlay models for site selection and their
application to selecting sites for low-income housing are described,
using a modern digital computer version of the overlay method.
People and the Built Form … Cont’d
30. People and the Built Form … Cont’d
• Residential building is the building where at least half of the
area is used for living (if less than half of the total area of the
building is used for living, it is classified as a non-residential
(commercial) building in accordance with the kind of use.
• Apartment houses” which are free-standing mansions, including
individual family houses.
• Villas, country houses, garden houses, etc., also twin and row
houses, where each has its own roof and its own separate
entrance.
• Apartment or villas ” ‒ group of premises that is equipped with
appropriate engineering networks and devices, where there is at
least one living room, as well as kitchen or kitchenette and
sanitary room; “living space” is a living room, bedroom, dining
room, workroom and spaces of similar meaning.
32. • Housing conditions can affect residents’ health and housing is a
‘social determinant of health’, meaning that it can affect physical
and mental health inequalities throughout life.
• Everything from the layout of the space to the material finishes
can contribute towards occupant health, mood, and
productivity.
• It’s been shown that people who work in well-designed spaces
take less sick leave, are more focused, and generally
contribute more to their company.
• At the minimum, the built form should meet the following criteria:
security of tenure, availability of services, facilities, and
infrastructure, habitability, accessibility, location and cultural
adequacy .
People and the Built Form … Cont’d
33. • One can posit that all successful urban places are comprised of
three sets of elements:
• activity—economic, cultural, social;
• form—the relationship between buildings and spaces;
• meaning—sense of place, historical and cultural.
• Economic, cultural and social activities
• Diversity of primary and secondary land uses
• Extent and variety of cultural venues
• Strength of small-firm economy, including creative businesses
• Access to education providers
• Presence of festivals and events
• Availability of workspaces for artists and low-cost cultural
producers
• Small-firm economic development in the cultural sectors
People and the Built Form … Cont’d
34. Built form
• Urban morphology
• Variety and adaptability of building stock
• Permeability of streetscape
• Legibility
• Amount and quality of public space
• Active street frontages
Meaning
• Sense of history and progress
• Area identity and imagery
• Knowledgeability
• Environmental signifiers
People and the Built Form … Cont’d
35. People and the Built Form … Cont’d
• Generally, access to appropriate and affordable housing is
central to the wellbeing and economic prosperity of the
whole community.
• Access to adequate housing is uniformly viewed as a basic
need and necessity for maintaining an acceptable standard of
living.
• Among other things, adequate housing should provide
warmth, security and facilities for cooking, sleeping,
entertaining and privacy to all members of the household.
• In housing provision, sustainable development explicitly
relates to the discussion of affordability, housing quality and
issues of social equity and justice in terms of accessibility.