About the Shanty Settlement

•Khayelitsha is home to over a million residents, it is one of the largest

shanty settlements in the world. This results in a very high Population
density and over crowding in the area.
•Around 12,000 houses have no access to propper sanitation or toilets
resulting in poor hygiene and fast disease spreads.
•Majority of the houses are made of scrap materials such as Plywood,
Corrugated Metal and Plastic. Which results in large fire spreads and other
disasters.
•Almost all houses have no Electricity supply thus they have to travel in
the darkness during the night, or use fire as light which can cause Fires in
the area.
•It is Located in the outer suburbs of Cape town and is one of the 2 poorest
Suburbs in cape town as a whole.
Causes for Shanty Settlements
•As LEDCs Start to Develop their industries and Cities faster and faster,
the Cost of Living also Rises. This results in the large amount of low paid
workers being unable to afford all their Necessities and Housing. Thus,
these workers and other poorer Citizens tend to move out of the city and
set up Shanty settlements.
•These Settlements are very large and Cramped and contain a very
LARGE amount of shanty houses made of scraps as they are unable to
afford enough resources to build a larger house. Furthermore there is
lesser space a large amount of people tend to set up such houses near each
other making the area very over crowded and cramped.
Problems of Shanty Settlements
•It is extremely overcrowded which is extremely unhygienic and unsafe.
•Various Disasters such as fires can easily spread across the entire
settlement as the houses very close to each other allowing to spread from
one house to another easily.
•The area is very overpopulated, there is not enough food, electricity or
other resources to support all the people in the area.
•There is poor hygiene, no toilets and poor sanitation which results in
disease spreading in the Settlement. It spreads even faster since it is over
crowded and cramped.
•Infrastrucure is pathetic, there is little to no public transport or health
care. Electricity is very poorly supplied and very unsafe
 Possible Solutions
• Service and land schemes wherein residents are given subsidies to purchase
or rent land which have required amenities such as transportation,
sanitation and Communication.
• Lower interest Loans wherein these residents are given loans for a lower
interest rate, along with some grants to purchase housing or rent land.
Subsidies can also be given for these Citizens to start up a small scale
business.
• Provide and improve rural areas’ connection so that people are not forced to
move to urban areas for more money. Investing in local areas will result in
fewer people moving into the city resulting in a smaller size of shanty
settlement as fewer people have to set up houses like those in shanty
settlements.