The 6 S's and Housing Process

I previously wrote about a housing concept from Stewart Brand’s How Buildings Learn: What happens after they are built. (See Incremental Building and Housing Microfinance Part III, posted on 13th September 2009) Brand built upon  work by Frank Duffy and identified “The 6 S’s” of a building: Site, Structure, Skin, Services, Space and Stuff.[1] How the Six S’s are integrated into a building varies, depending on whether the building was constructed through a formal or informal housing process and the degree of access to housing finance. As Brand states, “The flow of money through a building acts to organize that building.”[2]

Let me start with a brief look at the 6 S’s:

• Site: This is the location of a building. In the western setting, it is almost certain to be legally and specifically defined. In other parts of the world, there may be no legal title. Many countries have yet to conduct cadastral surveys for the vast majority of land, making formal title nearly impossible and resulting in  alternative forms of land tenure. Site has a tremendous impact on the building process in terms of the eventual form of structure and  the availability of housing finance options.
• Structure: Brand writes that “The foundation and load-bearing elements are perilous and expensive to change – so people don’t. These are the building.” [3] The structure of a building is  defined by its foundation plan and, as Brand notes,  is not likely to be significantly altered. Structure can be added incrementally through additions and extensions, using either formal and informal housing processes.
• Skin: The skin of a building is what meets the eye. It has a functional purpose of protecting the structure and providing insulation, security and safety, but it also frequently has aesthetic purposes. It is not uncommon for waddle and daub traditional houses in Africa to have an extra layer clay added to the outside to protect the structure. This is sometimes painted in designs with different color clays. “Keeping up with the Jones’” knows no socio-economic boundaries and often involves improvements or changes to the skin of a building.
• Services: Services include heating, electrical wiring, gas fittings, plumbing communication or other utilities and services in and around a building. Efforts are often made to hide the majority of services behind the skin of the building with the exception of access points like sockets, plumbing fixtures, etc.
• Space: The space plan includes the non-load bearing walls which delineate how space is used within the structure, as well as elements such as ceilings, doors and windows. Years ago I remember my father taking a sledge hammer and tearing out a wall between our dining room and kitchen to join the rooms and add a wood-burning stove. At the time, I didn’t think of it as a modification of the space plan and addition of a service, but that’s exactly what he was doing.
• Stuff: These are the things we put into the house and usually take with us when we move. Furniture, appliances and personal items all fall into this category. “Stuff” is clearly separate from what we usually consider as the building, but you will almost never see a building that is being utilized without it!

How Buildings Learn addresses the change and adaptation that takes place in a house or structure after it is built. Owners personalize and adapt buildings to their needs and wants over time. Brand uses the 6 S’s as a frame for identifying the types of transitions through which buildings pass. Brand looked at the change process primarily in the context of the formal housing sector. Although there are many similarities, there are also a number of differences when viewed through the lens of informal housing.

The 6 S’s in a formal housing process:

• Instant House: Whether built as new construction or bought as a pre-existing building, all of the 6 S’s (except “stuff”) are usually complete at the time of purchase. The incremental process of change begins after the owner has acquired a complete unit. At the time of sale, one owner’s ending point with a building becomes the next owners starting point, but it almost always starts as a complete unit in terms of the S’s.
• Built to Standards: The S’s themselves are built to standards, with inspection being a requirement. The formal housing process is highly regulated and the builders, sellers and just about everyone involved must be licensed and /or conform to standards. This is in an effort to guarantee quality and safety.
• Financed with Formal Housing Finance: The mortgage market is designed to facilitate the purchase of complete units with repayments over a long period of time. The structure, skin, services and space plan must meet quality standards and there must be legal tenure for the site, because mortgage financing is based on the presumed legal ability to resell the asset (the building) in case of default. Mortgage financing supports the acquisition of the 6’s in one complete unit, but it is also dependent on the ability to do so according to local quality standards and regulations.

The 6 S’s in an informal housing process:

• Incremental Construction: Most informal building processes are incremental. The time from the start of construction to when a building is complete with all of the 6 S’s can often be measured in years. Many buildings never have a complete set of the 6 S’s in their entire lifespan. In the incremental building process, structure is king. Buildings often sit on an untitled site and are occupied with incomplete skins, space, services and stuff. The S’s are added for the first time as the building is already in use by the owners.
• Questionable Standards: Even where regulations and standards exist, low income households often cannot afford to comply with them. This results in houses being built outside of standards. Builders are usually people who may have some knowledge of simple construction, but have not received formal training or licensing and are difficult to hold liable for the quality of work. There are few guarantees or avenues for recourse in the case of a poor quality construction.
• Financed Through Informal Sources: Houses built using informal process are  commonly built by people who do not qualify for loans from a bank. The site may not be legally viable as collateral and an informal building process undertaken by builders of indeterminate skill may appear risky to conservative bankers. As a result, owners build using whatever sources of finance they can access. This is often self-financing through savings, but could also include small loans from family, friends or places of employment. With the growth of the microfinance industry it is not uncommon for small business loans from MFIs to be diverted into housing. Whatever the source of funds, it tends to be piecemeal and the incremental building process becomes an exercise of prioritizing the 6 S’s and then adding and improving them gradually. The flow of money does indeed determine the building process.

Owners usually don’t choose whether they want to use a formal or informal housing process. The policy, regulatory and finance environments linked with predominant sources and levels of income essentially predetermine the process that will be used in practice and how the 6 S’s will be acquired. How Buildings Learn demonstrates that incremental building is more common than often imagined within the formal housing sector. Although housing microfinance is often thought of as a tool to support informal housing processes, its use in terms of the 6 S's it is not too different from home improvement loans delivered through formal lending institutions to support housing modifications complete with building permits, inspections and qualified builders. When housing microfinance is applied to informal housing processes, however, the effect is to speed up the initial acquisition of the 6 S’s and to allow the dweller to move towards and eventually own a complete building. As Brand showed, however, buildings continue to transform long after initial “completion.”

[1] Brand. S. (1994) How Buildings Learn: What happens after they're built. New York: Penguin
[2] Brand, p. 85
[3] Brand, p. 13

Incremental Building and Housing Microfinance Part I: Building on Informal Housing Finance

It is widely acknowledged that the poor all over the world build incrementally. In the absence of any realistic formal housing options, the majority of low income households  around the globe build their homes progressively. Whether starting with a small unit and extending or building a larger unit slowly over time, incremental building is in its essence a housing finance strategy used by low income households to manage their housing process. Houses are constructed as funds become available and the structure itself becomes a savings mechanism.

In many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, the incremental building process begins by saving blocks or bricks (after having acquired a place to build). In areas where cement blocks are common, people often purchase or produce blocks over time and store them on the building site. Where burnt bricks are used, kilns are often built and fired on-site where possible or the bricks are transported to the site to await future construction. The time between the acquisition of blocks or bricks and construction can often be extended, but this in-kind savings mechanism protects cash from household emergencies and consumption by converting it into building materials.

Cement blocks, although seemingly an expensive option, have the advantage of being able to convert relatively small amounts of cash into materials, by purchasing a bag or two of cement, acquiring sand and paying someone to make the blocks. The process is then repeated as more funds are available. Where burnt bricks are used, they can be a little more cash intensive whether they are purchased or brick makers are hired to produce them on site. When purchasing and transporting, it is usually done by the truckload to take advantage of economies of scale. When made on site, it is an intensive activity to mould, dry, stack and fire the bricks before they are damaged by rains. Burnt bricks are less commonly used as in-kind savings on a small scale as compared with cement blocks. Sun dried bricks are also a common and inexpensive building material, but they are rarely used as savings in-kind for an extended period without being converted into a structure and roofed  to protect them from the rain. (Stabilized soil blocks also exist as an option that is highly popular with housing practitioners, but has yet to become commonplace in the informal incremental housing processes for most low income households.)

Once sufficient blocks or bricks are on site, the incremental building process often continues to act as a savings mechanism in the form of the structure. Foundations can be laid and left on site for an indefinite amount of time. Walls are also built and left unroofed as resources are gathered for the next step. In areas where the soil does not permit burnt or sun dried bricks, low income households often build with cement blocks. Although this is often viewed as an unfavourable practice due to the cost per block, it actually works very effectively as a savings mechanism in the form of both the materials and an unroofed structure that is resistant to weather.

My first housing assignment in Africa was in the Democratic Republic of Congo (at the time it was called Zaire). When I arrived in Kinshasa, I noticed a prevalence of unroofed houses in the outlying sections of the city. This is a common sight in urban, peri-urban and even some rural areas around Africa and it represents one of the major challenges for households with low incomes: Roofing.

The roof is the most expensive single component of a house and it also poses a  challenge using in-kind savings methods. Unlike blocks, roofing materials cannot be saved progressively on the construction site because of the near certainty of theft. For households in small living quarters, the length of typical roofing materials makes them difficult to save and store in the security of the home. When they can be saved, items such as the ubiquitous corrugated metal roofing sheet have a high resale value and can easily be converted back into cash. This makes roofing materials less safe than blocks in times of family crisis, as they can be liquidated on short notice. Roofing is, therefore, a major use for housing microfinance products, because it represents a significant finance bottleneck in the housing process for many families.

Building a complete house and then moving in to occupy it is rarely an option for households with low incomes. The incremental building process takes place using two primary. The dweller can build a small, but essentially complete, unit and extend it later. Alternatively, many households begin building a large house over time, occupy it as soon as they deem it habitable, and then continue working on it while they occupy it. Many families occupy their houses as soon as the roof is in place.

Plans to extend can  be seen in "teeth" with which a planned extension will be joined to the initial structure. Sometimes the structure is built on part of a larger foundation, while at other times the foundation is extended as well. The "extension method" appears to be common with small families, with extensions taking place as the family grows.

In what I might call the "finishing method" floors, plaster, ceilings, electricity and other house components are  added gradually as the family resides in the house. It is not uncommon for dwellers to occupy their houses before even fixing doors and windows. In such cases, temporary coverings are used or window openings are blocked closed, with the doors and windows being added over time as additional funds become available.

HMF Hypothesis Three: Housing Microfinance will be most effective where there is a high prevalence of incremental building taking place.

Housing microfinance fits perfectly with incremental building. It fills a real finance gap and adds value to the housing process of low income households. Small home improvement or home construction loans can easily be applied various incremental building activities, such as roofing, finishing units, extending and other tasks. For housing microfinance to be effective, it must be able to achieve a level of scale that allows it to be implemented sustainably. This can be done where there is a vibrant informal housing sector and people are already building incrementally. This seems almost self-evident, but in practice it is not always the case. I have seen and personally been involved in housing microfinance initiatives that did not follow the lead of local housing activity and could not achieve scale and sustainability as a result.

When conducting market research, indicators of an active informal housing sector that may be one indicator of an area ripe for housing microfinance in Sub-Saharan Africa would include:

• Structures built to roofing level and left unfinished (or built to roofing level with durable materials and roofed with non-durable materials)
• "Teeth" extending from walls indicating a planned extension
• Structures that are built on only part of a larger foundation.
• Occupied houses with blocked-up windows, unfinished floors, etc.
• Visible savings in-kind in the form of materials (blocks, bricks, sand, stones, etc.) on construction sites.
• Block and brick producers (small scale producers)
• Hardware and building supplies shops
• Construction activity visibly taking place

Where the above are visible, there is probably a market for housing finance that will result in home improvements. Housing microfinance works hand in hand with incrementalism and small businesses and services that support construction. When viewed from the provider paradigm (see previous post on housing paradigms), incremental building and a fragmented, informal housing sector may be seen as the problem. When viewed from the supporter paradigm of housing, supporting incremental building efforts with housing finance can be seen as an effective means of helping low income households move forward in their housing process.