There shall be houses, security and comfort

This paper outlines the centrality of housing to sustainable livelihoods within the context of human security.

This paper outlines the centrality of housing to sustainable livelihoods within the context of human security. It challenges orthodox conceptions of security as primarily a matter of state sovereignty by advancing security concerns of individuals and groups below the level of the state, through an argument that centers on human security. It presents an argument for the value of adequate shelter to human security and presents South Africa’s national housing subsidy programme as a development imperative on which progressive realization of the reconstruction agenda is predicated. It also discusses the primacy of security of tenure within the context of the contemporary mortgage-induced international financial crisis.

About the author

Dr. Clarence Tshitereke is the author of Th e Experience of Economic Redistribution: The Growth, Employment and Redistribution Strategy in South Africa, (2006) Routledge, New York. He previously worked on international relations and security-related issues, and now works for the National Department of Housing in South Africa. He completed his Ph.D. (2004) in International Relations and Development Studies with Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada.