Abstract
Meeting the demand for adequate housing by the urban poor in cities of the developing
world remains a pipe dream. This is particularly so in the Southern African region that has
relied on stringent supply side instruments that prescribe stringent statutory housing
standards and unaffordable development prescriptions that exclude and discourage the
majority of the urban poor to participate in the formal housing market and the housing
delivery processes. It has repeatedly been proven that innovations that facilitate access to
suitable and properly sited land and housing financial sources and economic opportunities
for the urban poor have received minimal attention from governments. This paper evaluates
the Zimbabwean government’s efforts to promote the provision of housing for the urban
poor in the country’s cities through Operation Live well/Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle housing
programme that was adopted in 2005. The paper acknowledges efforts by the Zimbabwean
government to facilitate and substantially improve access to land for housing by allocating
thousands of unserviced plots, a critical supply side instrument. It however highlights the
missing link in the programme; that is the lack of facilitation for financial sources or access
to income generating projects to beneficiaries of the plots, an essential demand side
instrument that is vital for onsite infrastructure provision and plot development.