The state of housing policy research in Africa

This paper profiles research on housing policy in Africa and evaluates its scale and quality. Using databases developed from Scopus, we reviewed papers on housing policy research from 1989 to 2018, in Africa and in South Africa in particular. We found a steady increase in the number of papers. The disciplines that have contributed most are geography, health-related disciplines, planning, development studies and economics, in that order, and there has been a shift towards disciplines with a more applied focus. Most researchers had not been involved in housing policy research for very long, apart from some in South Africa. We did not find strong research links between the rest of Africa and South Africa. A large proportion of researchers in the rest of Africa were affiliated to institutions outside Africa, unlike South Africa, which had more local affiliation. We argue that, despite room for improvement, it is understandable that the research mainly reflects the housing reality on the ground rather than analysing it theoretically, given the need to draw African governments’ notice to the continent’s severe housing problems and the need to develop implementable African housing policy.