“Crisylida Capital”: Hatching Informal Township Property Markets to Benefit Low-Income Residents in Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract

Housing for the world’s poor and eliminating housing poverty are a major challenge particularly with the huge housing deficits in many developing countries. Slums and informal settlements are proliferating around the world as the gap between affordable housing and the individuals living in the informal economy widens. Within the current housing shortage, slum properties are often viewed as having no inherent capital value. Yet, within the informal housing developments, there is an informal property market that sees property traded and rented. This existing property market is unregulated and not transparent. This has placed a restriction on the nature of this property market and creates a new form of capital, that of ‘crisylida capital’—this is capital in a cocoon state; it functions for its purpose but can neither be used as collateral nor is recognised in formal institutions. Looking at township property in Johannesburg, South Africa, informal transactions in the property market can be utilised to facilitate the creation of a property ladder that starts at informal slum and ends in formally developed property. This will move the understanding of slum property as simply a form of shelter for the urban poor to a step for housing poverty eradication.