Housing policy and social inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa under neoliberalism: a systematic review and policy implications

Despite the global call for promoting inclusive cities, the supply of a socially inclusive housing market system remained challenging, especially in sub-Saharan Africa in the post-1990s. This study attempts to understand the deriving forces facing inclusive housing policy-making and seeks to examine innovative housing policy and market options in sub-Saharan Africa under neoliberalism. A systematic review of extant literature in sub-Saharan Africa, published from 1990 to 2022 and written in the English language was conducted considering Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar Search engines. Using rigorous inclusion/exclusion criteria-keywords, abstract, redundancy, content relevance, year of publication, and document types, 72 articles covering 20 countries were selected and considered for the final review. Misunderstanding of the major housing question ‘housing for whom’ was revealed as the major factor facing affordable and inclusive housing policy and market options in sub-Saharan Africa. Similarly, context-specific factors such as limited housing market options for low-income groups, top-down planning influenced by Western ideologies, ineffective enabling approaches, and weak public-private partnerships were revealed as challenges. The negative impacts of neoliberalism were revealed but debated. The result of this study does not propose a universal housing solution for all countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Instead, it presents diverse strategies for fostering inclusive housing, including inclusionary housing (IH), land value capture (LVC), community land trusts (CLT), strategic spatial planning (SSP), space co-production, and new satellite towns. Nonetheless, these strategies seek socio-economic and political commitment, stringent guidelines, and institutional frameworks.