LOS ANGELES
HOUSEHOLD ENUMERATION
REPORT
CAPE TOWN, NOVEMBER 2010
Informal Settlement Network,
Los Angeles Community Leadership and
Community Organisation Resource Centre
PREFACE
The Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC) is a non-governmental organisation
(NGO) with main offices in Cape Town but operating in all provinces that supports
communities prepared and willing to help themselves. CORC provides support to networks of
urban and rural poor communities who mobilize around their own resources and capacities.
CORC’s interventions are designed to enable rural and urban communities to learn from one
another and to create solidarity and unity in order to be able to broker deals with formal
institutions, especially the state.
The Informal Settlement Network (ISN) is an alliance of settlement-level and national-level
organizations of informal settlement dwellers, active in all of the country’s major
metropolitan municipalities. Since 2009, ISN, often in partnership with local authorities, has
been piloting incremental informal settlement upgrades that put organized communities of the
urban poor at the centre of such processes.
In 2009 a partnership was established between the City of Cape Town, CORC and the
leadership of ISN, to embark on a multiple-site pilot project looking at informal settlement
upgrading. In each of the pilot sites, the first step for any development has been identified in
the data gathering about population, the site itself, and its existing meagre infrastructure.
2
Contents
PREFACE ................................................................................................................................. 2
Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 5
Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 6
Background to the enumeration ............................................................................................. 6
Questionnaire development .................................................................................................... 7
The enumeration process ........................................................................................................ 8
Fieldwork ............................................................................................................................... 8
Data management ................................................................................................................... 8
Key findings .............................................................................................................................. 9
Household details ................................................................................................................. 10
Education .............................................................................................................................. 13
Employment ......................................................................................................................... 14
Income and expenses ............................................................................................................ 16
Disaster history..................................................................................................................... 18
Migration history .................................................................................................................. 20
Health and sanitation ............................................................................................................ 22
Nature of shack..................................................................................................................... 23
Summary of findings ............................................................................................................ 25
Appendix ................................................................................................................................. 26
3
List of tables
Table 1: Summary of the contents of the Los Angeles Enumeration questionnaire .............................. 7
Table 2: Settlement profile of Los Angeles ............................................................................................. 9
Table 3: Number of people living in each structure ............................................................................. 10
Table 4: Education enrolment by gender of household head .............................................................. 13
Table 5: Employment distribution by type ........................................................................................... 14
Table 6: Total labour force by age ........................................................................................................ 14
Table 7: Number of households without any working people by household head gender ................. 15
Table 8: Number of persons receiving a grant...................................................................................... 16
Table 9: Breakdown of monthly expenses ............................................................................................ 17
Table 10: Shopping centres utilised (based on number of mentions) .................................................. 18
Table 11: Disaster history while staying in Los Angeles ........................................................................ 19
Table 12: Numbers of people affected by disasters ............................................................................. 19
Table 13: Disaster frequency by household.......................................................................................... 19
Table 14: Origin of Los Angeles residents ............................................................................................. 20
Table 15: Reason why households have settled in Los Angeles ........................................................... 21
Table 16: type of structure use in Los Angeles ..................................................................................... 23
Table 17: Shack size in square metres by number of households ........................................................ 24
Table 18: Space available to each person ............................................................................................. 24
Table 19: Number of rooms per shack.................................................................................................. 24
List of figures
Figure 1: Population distribution by age category ................................................................................ 11
Figure 2: Household head age distribution........................................................................................... 11
Figure 3: Gender breakdown of household heads ............................................................................... 12
Figure 4: Education enrolment ............................................................................................................. 13
Figure 5: Unemployment as a percentage of the total labour force .................................................... 15
Figure 6: Percentage of households receiving any welfare grant......................................................... 16
Figure 7: Transport used as a percentage of mentions ........................................................................ 18
Figure 8: Number of years residents have lived in Los Angeles............................................................ 20
Figure 9: Number of years Los Angeles residents have lived in Cape Town......................................... 21
Figure 10: Access to health services ..................................................................................................... 22
Figure 11: Type of sanitation used by residents ................................................................................... 23
4
INTRODUCTION
The informal settlement of Los Angeles was established around 1995. At that time, the land
was owned primarily by Cape Nature (a public institution with the statutory responsibility for
biodiversity conservation). This land was later transferred to the City of Cape Town. Most of
the residents of Los Angeles come from the neighbouring areas in the Cape Metro.
The informal settlement of Los Angeles has a number of service delivery problems to be
overcome. There are no legal electricity connections in the area and residents get their
electricity through illegal connections from the adjacent settlement of Drift Sands. The
residents of Los Angeles pay monthly for this “service” with costs being higher than what
they would pay to the State utility. There are no formal streets in Los Angeles and shacks are
arranged haphazardly. The entire settlement reflects a lack of development planning.
Children in the area attend the nearest school which is in Drift Sands but in winter time this
school is not easily accessible because of flooding. There is a clear need for planning and
upgrading in this informal settlement.
As is the case with many other informal settlements in the country, the community is led by a
committee which oversees all issues concerning their settlement, in particular trying to create
a better life for the residents of Los Angeles. CORC and ISN have taken up the challenge and
have been helping a growing number of communities to participate in an inclusive process of
informal settlement upgrading, including Los Angeles. Part of this process has been to
involve community members in telling the story of their settlements. This has been focused
along the lines of gathering data on the areas by the people who know the real issues best, i.e.
the inhabitants of informal settlements themselves. The tool for gathering this data is that of
enumeration whereby community members assist in the process from planning and execution
through to data capturing and reporting on the results.
This report will provide a brief background to the enumeration process followed for the Los
Angeles informal settlement as well as summary findings from the data collected. The aim of
the report is to provide community members of Los Angeles with the tools to help them
participate in their own settlement development by allowing them to report on the facts of
their current living conditions and be able to engage local government constructively with
regards to what their real and most pressing needs are.
5
METHODOLOGY
Background to the enumeration
The enumeration exercise was conducted by volunteers who participated in different phases
of the project. This included data collection, manual data capturing, measuring and mapping
of the area. The Los Angeles informal settlement enumeration commenced on 23rd
November 2010 and was concluded 3 weeks later.
As a norm of the community-run socio-economic surveys supported by CORC and ISN, the
enumerators volunteered from a number of informal settlements around Cape Town who are
in the same predicament as Los Angeles. The community leadership was part of the whole
exercise. The main motive of the exercise was to support and encourage the community to
participate in planning and strategising for the development of their settlement together with
the city government.
6
Questionnaire development
The questionnaire was developed from the previous enumeration exercises conducted in the
previous exercises under the pilot projects in Sheffield Road and TT Section. Consultations
with informal settlement residents and leadership committees took place to decide on what
information needs to be captured by the enumeration exercise. Communities were given the
opportunity to make improvements in the questionnaire to ensure that more relevant and
comprehensive information about their specific area would be collected. Below is a summary
of the contents of the questionnaire. A copy of the questionnaire can be found in the
appendix.
Table 1: Summary of the contents of the Los Angeles Enumeration questionnaire
DOMAIN OF ENUMERATION
ITEMS INCLUDED IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE
Household details







Identity number and gender of household head
His/her age
Number of families occupying the structure
Number of young people in the house
Number of people attending school
Number of adults staying in the house
Number of aged persons in the house
Employment, income and expenses






Number of people employed in the house hold
Type of employment
Grants received
Monthly basic expenses
Transport and costs
Shopping options
 Type of house
 Area of house
 Number of rooms
Nature of house
Disaster & relocation history
 Disasters experienced by the household
Migration history
 Period lived in the community
 Place of residence before Los Angeles
 Period lived in Cape Town




Health & sanitation
7
Type of toilet available to the household
Number of people using the toilet
Collection of waste from common bins
Access to health services
The enumeration process
The enumeration team consisted of three teams: Numbering, Mapping and the Data
Collection team. The community was divided into different sections marked by the main
paths in the settlement. Each of these sections was assigned a letter of the alphabet. Within
each section, shacks were given numbers starting from 1. This was painted on the front of the
shack so that each shack had a unique number and could be clearly identified.
Prior to the data collection exercise, the Community Task Team, CORC fieldworkers and
ISN members conducted a preparatory workshop. This was meant to equip fieldworkers with
the necessary technical skills needed for conducting the enumeration. The enumerators were
instructed to collect information from people in their structures, which were measured and
numbered by the enumeration numbering team. In the SDI enumeration methodology,
enumerators were instructed to collect information only through face-to-face interviews with
household heads. For this reason, all the three teams included some Los Angeles community
members. The inclusion of these local members in these teams was also significant because
they had better knowledge of their community and all its sections. This increased the level of
accuracy in the survey and also ensured that the survey was not seen as an external intrusion,
but rather as a tool to serve the informal settlement upgrading initiative.
For the survey component of the exercise, enumerators interviewed members of every
structure in all sections. All the questions in the questionnaire were generally completed in
10 – 15 minutes. All answers provided by the respondents during the interviews are treated
as strictly confidential. It was also made clear that they could refuse to answer certain
questions or even the entire interview if they chose to do so. All effort has been made to
ensure the accuracy of the data collected. There were however households which could not
be interviewed due to the unavailability of residents during the enumeration period.
Fieldwork
Data collection was conducted by the enumerators for a period of three weeks. Interviews
were conducted mainly during the day; however, there were instances where interviews were
conducted at night by the community enumerators. This was because some people could not
be reached during the day due to their work commitments.
Data management
All questionnaires were captured into digital format in the form of an excel spreadsheet. This
was done by volunteers from the ISN network and local community members. The excel
spreadsheet was then converted into a STATA dataset using Stat Transfer. The dataset was
checked for internal consistency. Frequency tables were produced for the purposes of
presenting information in tabular and graphical formats.
8
KEY FINDINGS
Key results of the enumeration will be discussed in this section and will be primarily
presented in the form of graphs and tables. The following table summarises the settlement
profile1 established through the enumeration.
Table 2: Settlement profile of Los Angeles
“Slum” Name
Los Angeles
Age of Settlement
Around 16 years
Status at the time of the survey at the date of
drafting this report
The settlement was under no eviction threats
during the period of the enumeration
Structures
Informal residential units
Population
318 households enumerated housing 870 residents
(plus the households who could not be reached
due to unavailability).
Not enumerated
57 structures were not enumerated due to
unavailability of members (it is estimated that this
amounted to approximately 150 persons).
Ownership
The land is now owned by the city of Cape Town,
initially it used to be part of Cape Nature
Reserves
No. of Individual Toilet Blocks
None
No. of Community toilet blocks
36 (11 of them are not being used because they
are situated on water logged sections of the
settlement and some have been subject to
vandalism
Ratio of toilets to total number of people
1 functional toilet to 32 people
Most urgent needs
More water taps, land rehabilitation of some parts
of the settlement, drainage improvements and
electricity
1
The settlement profile format was adapted from the Ahmad Nagar Settlement Profiling exercise, conducted by
community members and the support NGO SPARC in India (2009).
9
Household details
Shacks serve as the only structures in the settlement and are used for all the community’s
housing, business and religious needs. There were 375 shacks counted in the settlement of
Los Angeles. For the rest of the findings section, all results discussed will be based on the
total of 318 enumerated shacks. 57 households were not enumerated during the data
collection exercise mainly because there were no people during the entire period. The 318
enumerated shacks in Los Angeles are home to 870 residents. These residents make up 327
different families.
On average, each shack in the Los Angeles informal settlement is home to 2.7 persons.
When examining the data more closely, 28% of shacks in the settlement house 4 or more
residents (see table 3 below).
Table 3: Number of people living in each structure
Number of people
living in structures
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Total
Frequency
Cumulative
Percent
Percent
99
63
68
39
28
11
4
4
1
1
31.13
19.81
21.38
12.26
8.81
3.46
1.26
1.26
0.31
0.31
31.13
50.94
72.33
84.59
93.4
96.86
98.11
99.37
99.69
100
318
100
Total
10
Figure 1: Population distribution by age category
45
38
40
Percentage
35
30
25
20
20
19
15
15
10
7
5
1
0
0
0 to 6
7 to 14
15 to 17
18 to 35
36 to 64
Age categories in years
65 and older Missing data
Missing Data : 2 persons
From figure 1 above, it is striking to see that 79% of residents in Los Angeles are under the
age of 36 years old. This indicates a very young population with 41% of residents under the
age of 18 years. This is reflected in the age distribution of household heads (see figure 2)
where 49% of all household heads fall into the age category 18 to 35 years old.
Figure 2: Household head age distribution
60
Percentage
50
49
39
40
30
20
11
10
1
0
18-35
36-64
65+
Age categories in years
11
Missing data
Missing Data : 35 Persons
It must be noted that the age of household heads was calculated using identity numbers hence
the 11% indicated as missing data were those instances where the household head did not
supply an identity number.
Figure 3: Gender breakdown of household heads
Female
42%
Male
58%
Missing Data : 5 household heads
The gender breakdown for household heads sees males account for 58% of all household
heads and the remaining 42% being females. The 42% figure for female headed households
is much higher than the 2009 provincial statistics2 for the Western Cape which places the
figure at 29,8%. This is indicative of the increased vulnerability to poverty that females
experience in South Africa.
2
Social profile of South Africa, 2002–2009, Statistics South Africa
12
Education
From figure 4 it can be seen that 27% of all residents in Los Angeles are enrolled in some
form of education. The biggest contributing category in terms of education enrolment is
primary school (19%), again indicating the youthful nature of the community.
Figure 4: Education enrolment
Figure 4. Education enrollment
Education level
Total
27
Tertiary
1
Secondary
7
Primary
19
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Percentage of total population
Table 4: Education enrolment by gender of household head
(Total number of school going persons N = 237)
Male
household
head
% of total
Education Enrolment
Female
household
head
% of total
Primary school
30.80
39.66
Secondary school
10.97
15.61
0.00
2.11
~ 42%
~ 55%
Tertiary
Sub-totals per gender
100%
Total
Missing data: 5 Household head genders (2%)
When looking at enrolment based on the gender of the household head, an interesting statistic
is revealed. Even though female household heads make up only 42% of all household heads
(figure 3), 55% of all persons enrolled in education come from female headed households.
Enrolment figures for both primary and secondary school are higher in female headed
households than male headed households suggesting more value placed on education by
13
female headed households. Again this is something that has been witnessed in other informal
settlements such as Europe.
Employment
In table 5 below, 300 residents of Los Angeles (34% of 870 residents) are employed in some
form or another. Of these 300 residents, 55% are in full time employment and 37% are
employed on a part time basis.
Table 5: Employment distribution by type
Total employment breakdown
Frequency
Self employed
Percent
25
8
Part time
111
37
Full time
164
55
Total
300
100
To work out the unemployment rate for the settlement, we need to take into account the
definition used by Statistics South Africa. The unemployment rate is always reflected as the
percentage of the total economically active population who are not employed. The
economically active population as defined by Statistics South Africa are those people aged 16
years and older. Due to the constraints of this enumeration, constructing the total number of
economically active persons is difficult due to the predefined age cohorts used in the
questionnaire.
Table 6: Total labour force by age
Labour Force
Frequency
Age 15 to 17 years
60
Age 18 to 35
334
Age 36 to 64
170
Age 65 and older
12
Total labour force
576
Table 6 gives as a good estimate of the economically active population in Los Angeles
settlement. This numbers 576 residents. In figure 5 below it is shown that the unemployment
rate for Los Angeles is 48%. This is much higher than the official unemployment rate for
South Africa (this figure has been hovering in the mid 20’s for the last few years) and points
to a lack of employment opportunities for the urban poor.
14
Figure 5: Unemployment as a percentage of the total labour force
Employed
Unemployed
48%
52%
Total Labour Force: 576 persons
A further analysis of employment by household head gender reveals the following statistics.
Table 7: Number of households without any working people by household head gender
Household head
gender
Number of
households
without any
working
people
Percentage of
total
households
Number of
people
Percentage of
total
population
Male
32
10
32
4
Female
24
8
80
9
There are 24 female headed households that have no employed people living in them
compared to 32 male headed households. Within these 24 households, the female household
heads have to support approximately 9% of the total population of the settlement. More
refined research is required to determine how these households with no apparent income are
able to survive. The male headed household that have no employed members contains only
4% of the total Los Angeles population. As has been the case in other informal settlements,
we see that unemployment places extra pressure on female headed households.
15
Income and expenses
The response rate for the income question in the Los Angeles enumeration was very low with
67% of households not providing any income details. This data cannot be used to provide an
accurate assessment of the income for residents. The method employed by CORC is to
examine the expenses of households which can be used as an estimate for the income of that
particular household. Another source of income data which is very important for informal
settlement dwellers is that of social welfare grants.
Table 8: Number of persons receiving a grant
Numbers of
People
Receiving
Grant type
Disability
% out of
total
population
11
1.26
121
13.91
Pension
9
1.03
Refugee
0
0
Other
3
0.34
Total
144
16.55
Total population
870
Child Support
A total of 16% of all residents in Los Angeles receive some form of social welfare grants
(table 8). The child support grant is the biggest contributing category (13.91%).
Figure 6: Percentage of households receiving any welfare grant
Yes or record of welfare grant
No answer or No record of welfare grant
56%
44%
When looking at all the households in Los Angeles, 44% receive some form of income
through a welfare grant (figure 6). What is more revealing though is looking at households
16
who have no working people in them and receive a welfare grant. In the Los Angeles
settlement there are 31 households who rely solely on social welfare grants to survive. These
31 households (10% of all households) are home to 94 residents.
Table 9: Breakdown of monthly expenses
TOTAL EXPENSES
Percentage
of total
Amounts
Food
R 163 380.00
34
Electricity
R
5 150.00
1
Transport
R
80 269.00
17
Rent
R
11 935.00
2
School fees
R
35 385.00
7
Clothing
R 164 313.00
34
Water
R
200.00
0
Other
R
19 013.00
4
Total
R 479 645.00
100
As can be seen from the table above, food and clothing are the biggest monthly expenses for
the residents of Los Angeles. Both food and clothing accounts for 34 percent each of all
expenses each month. Overall we can see that the community of Los Angeles contributes to
the economy of Cape Town to the tune of approximately R 479 645 each month. This once
again shows that informal settlements play a role in the economic life of the city. It must be
noted that figures for clothing expenses appear to be over-inflated and should be referenced
with caution. Another big expense for the residents of Los Angeles is transportation costs
which account for 17% of all expenditure each month. The average cost for transport per day
per respondent is R25.81. This is slightly higher than average travel costs for better located
informal settlements like Europe (approximately R18). Los Angeles residents thus travel
greater distances which equates to higher transport costs.
In Los Angeles 318 households spend a total of R 479 645 per month. This equates to an
average monthly expense total of R 1508.31 per household. This is also a higher average
monthly expense figure than Europe settlement but this may be skewed due to the lower
number of households in Los Angeles informal settlement. There are 26 households in Los
Angeles who do not have any people working and they do not receive any welfare grants.
These households are home to 45 residents who basically are most vulnerable in terms of lack
of resources or income. Even though these households claim to have no form of income, 24
of them have indicated expenses. As is the case in other informal settlements, it is a topic
which requires more research into how these households survive.
17
Table 10: Shopping centres utilised (based on number of mentions)
Shopping Centres Frequented
Frequency
Percent
Mfuleni Shoprite
48
14
Bellville
81
24
Goal shopping mall
40
12
Other
165
49
Total
334
100
From table 10 it can be seen that 49% of mentions were for other areas. This seems to
indicate that the shopping areas of Mfuleni Shoprite, Bellville and Goal shopping mall are too
far away for Los Angeles residents. As mentioned earlier transport costs are one of the big
expenses for residents and this is most likely related to having to travel to work and to the
shopping centres mentioned above.
Figure 7: Transport used as a percentage of mentions
14%
24%
Private
Taxi
Bus
22%
40%
Train
Residents in Los Angeles reported that taxi’s served as their main source of transport. The
next most frequently used mode of transport is the train.
Disaster history
Some of the major problems facing informal settlement dwellers in South Africa are related
to weather disasters in the form of heavy rain and flooding as well as manmade disasters in
the form of runaway shack fires. Due to the informal nature of the Los Angeles settlement,
proper road, drainage and safety mechanisms regarding fire hazards are not in place. This
has meant that the residents are exposed to a number of dangers while living in the area.
18
Table 11: Disaster history while staying in Los Angeles
Number of
households
affected
Disaster type
Fire only
Percentage
21
7.37
Flooding only
260
91.22
Evictions only
4
1.40
285
100
Total
Missing data: 33 households
Ninety-one percent of all households in Los Angeles have experienced a flooding disaster.
This highlights the plight of residents when it comes to winter time and the rainy season in
Cape Town. Approximately 715 residents of Los Angeles have been affected by flooding
alone. Fire disasters appear to be less frequent with only 63 residents having experienced
such a disaster but this is still a major concern.
Table 12: Numbers of people affected by disasters
Number of
people affected
Disaster type
Fire only
Percentage
63
7.24
Flooding only
715
82.18
Evictions only
14
1.61
Total
792
91.03
Total population
870
When asked about what type of flooding that occurs, the highest mentions count was for
flooding from underground water.
Table 13: Disaster frequency by household
Disaster Type
Flooding
Fire
Evictions
Number of households
affected
Ave no. of
events per
household
Frequency of events
260
2104
8.09
21
30
1.48
4
4
1
Table 13 shows that households that experience flooding have on average experienced 8 such
events whereas fire has a frequency of about 1.5 events per household.
19
Migration history
Figure 8 below shows that there are a few respondents who claim to have been living in the
area for more than 20 years. The majority of residents seem to have been living in Los
Angeles for the past 0 to 15 years (94.7% of household heads). About 69% of all respondents
have been living in the area for more than 5 years indicating that the settlement has been well
established for at least a decade.
Figure 8: Number of years residents have lived in Los Angeles
40
35.22
35
30.82
28.62
Percentage
30
25
20
15
10
5.03
5
0.31
0
1 to 5
6 to 10
11 to 15
15 to 20
21 to 25
Years in Los Angeles
Table 14: Origin of Los Angeles residents
Area where lived before
Freq.
Percent
Cape Metro
261
82.08
Eastern Cape
55
17.3
2
0.63
318
100
Gauteng Province
Total
From table 14 it can be seen that 82% of Los Angeles household heads were living in the
Cape Metro region before moving to Los Angeles. There are however 17% of household
heads who came directly from the Eastern Cape to live in Los Angeles. The trend in Los
Angeles points to residents coming from areas within the Cape Metro more than from other
provinces. This seems to suggest the settlement grew as a result of overflow of residents
from other areas in Cape Town. It also points to the possibility that residents of Los Angeles
have been residents of Cape Town for quite some time.
20
Table 15: Reason why households have settled in Los Angeles
Reason for living in this area
Freq.
Percent
Close to family
156
49.21
Close to friends
9
2.84
75
23.66
Close to family & friends
3
0.95
Close to family & work
3
0.95
Close to family, friends & work
2
0.63
69
21.77
317
100
Close to work
Other reason
Total
Missing data: 1 household
As can be seen in table 15 above, 49% of all household heads claimed to have moved to Los
Angeles settlement in order to be close to family. Being close to work is the next most
important reason but clearly familial ties seem to be the driving force for residents moving to
Los Angeles again highlighting the importance placed on community by the residents of
informal settlements.
Figure 9: Number of years Los Angeles residents have lived in Cape Town
35
33.02
30
Percentage
25
22.96
20
17.3
15
10
8.81
8.81
5.35
5
3.77
0
1 to 5
6 to 10
11 to 15
15 to 20
21 to 25
26 to 30
more than 30
Years in Cape Town
Figure 9 shows that the majority of Los Angeles residents started moving to Cape Town
between 6 to 25 years ago. This seems to support the idea that the residents of Los Angeles
have been established in the city and have moved to Los Angeles from other areas in the
Cape Metro.
21
Health and sanitation
The residents of Los Angeles informal settlement seem to access a variety of health services.
Figure 10: Access to health services
6%
6%
Traditional Healer
23%
29%
General Practitioner
Emergency Services
Mobile Clinic
Hospital
Missing data
3%
33%
Figure 10 shows that 33% of the residents receive medical attention at the mobile clinic with
the general practitioner accounting for 29%. The other health service accessed frequently by
Los Angeles residents is the hospital.
With regards to access to sanitation, the situation in Los Angeles is dire. No residents
reported using water flush toilets and the overwhelming majority use the bush as their toilet
(65%). The remaining 34% uses the bucket system. It is very clear that sanitation needs to
be upgraded in this area as there are very low levels of service delivery currently.
22
Figure 11: Type of sanitation used by residents
70
Percentage
60
50
40
65.72
30
20
34.28
10
0
Bucket System
Bush
Sanitation type
Nature of shack
As mentioned at the start of the findings section, shacks are the only structures in the Los
Angeles settlement and serve all the community’s needs. The majority of shacks fulfil the
role of residential use only. There is 1 shack that serves as residential and church as well as 1
shack that serves as residential and spaza shop.
Table 16: type of structure use in Los Angeles
Structure Use
Frequency
Residential Only
314
Dual Use Residential & Church
1
Dual Use Residential & Spaza
1
Missing data
2
Total
318
In terms of size, the shacks range predominantly from 5 square metres up to 30 and above
square metres. Fifty-seven percent of all shacks in the Los Angeles informal settlement are
25 square metres or smaller.
23
Table 17: Shack size in square metres by number of households
Shack Sizes in square metres
Freq.
No measurement
Cumulative
percent
Percent
17
5.35
5.35
2
0.63
5.97
5 to 10 square metres
61
19.18
25.16
11 to 15 square metres
47
14.78
39.94
16 to 20 square metres
42
13.21
53.14
21 to 25 square metres
31
9.75
62.89
26 to 30 square metres
24
7.55
70.44
31 to 40 square metres
47
14.78
85.22
over 40 square metres
47
14.78
100
318
100
Less than 5 square metres
Total
Table 18: Space available to each person
Total people
870
Total area in square metres
7683.33
Square metres per person
8.83
This means that on average each person in the settlement has about 8.8 square metres of
living space. Eighty-five percent of all shacks have 3 rooms or less (table 19)
Table 19: Number of rooms per shack
Number of rooms
Freq.
Percent
Cum.
1
111
36.39
36.39
2
93
30.49
66.89
3
56
18.36
85.25
4
38
12.46
97.7
5
5
1.64
99.34
6
1
0.33
99.67
7
1
0.33
100
305
100
Total
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Summary of findings
The outlook for Los Angeles informal settlement is of grave concern for the health and well
being of the resident population. Like most other informal settlements, unemployment is a
major problem and tied to this is geographic isolation from areas where work could be found.
Transport costs being the third highest expense suggests that residents have to travel
relatively long distances to get their food, or go to work. Due to the lack of development
planning in the settlement, disasters such as flooding are a common occurrence. Lack of
proper sanitation services is another concern and overall residents have reported that refuse
removal is not being carried out often enough in the area. The settlement needs to be put on a
general upgrading path urgently to address these needs.
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APPENDIX
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION RESOURCE CENTRE (CORC)
LOS ANGELES, MFULENI ENUMERATION
This enumeration survey collects information on housing conditions, expenditures (and
income if possible), employment and sanitation in your community. Please co-operate with
the enumerator to fill in this questionnaire.
This form asks for the following:
 Basic information about the people who are living in your house
 Specific information about this house and its occupancy
 Specific information about sanitation services and health conditions.
Thank you for your co-operation.
1. Household Details and (Data)
Shack/House Number
1.1 Owner of structure:
Surname ________________________________
ID number (only if you wish to provide it):
Names _________________________________
___________________________
Age of structure Owner
Gender of the head of the household: Male
Female
1.2 Occupant of structure:
Surname ________________________________
ID number (only if you wish to provide it):
Gender of the occupant: Male
Names _________________________________
___________________________________________
Female
1.3 The relationship between the owner and the occupant;
Structure owner
Tenant
Relative of owner
1.4 How many families stay in your house?
1
1.5 How many people in the house are… (i) 0 - 6 years
2
3
(iv) 18 – 35 years
(ii) 7 – 14 years
(v) 36 – 64 years
(iii) 15 –17 years
(vi) 65 + years
26
1.6 How many people attend school?
Crèche
Primary school
Secondary/High School
Tertiary
2. Employment, Income & Expense
2.1 How many people are employed in the house?
1
2
3
4+
2.2 What type of employment are they involved in?
How many
Self Employed
How many
Part time/Casual
How many
Full Time
If unemployed list skills (If any):___________________________________________
2.3 Do you receive any kind of a welfare grant?
Yes
No
2.4 What kind of grant do you receive?
Disability
Child support
Refugee
Pension
Other
2.5 How many people have any form of income in your house?
1
2
3
4+
2.6 How much are the main expenses per month?
1. Food
R
2. Electricity
R
3. Transport
R
4. Rent/Maintenance
R
5. School fees
R
6. Clothing
R
7. Water
R
8. Other items
2.7 What type of transport do you use when going to work?
27
R
Private
Taxi
Bus
Train
2.8 How far is the place of employment (or where the household head gets the income)?
____ Hrs ____ min
(Hours, Minutes of TRAVEL or WALK)
R
2.9 How much do you pay per day in transport?
2.9.1 Where do you do your shopping?
1. Mfuleni Shoprite Shopping Mall
2. Belville Shopping Mall
3. Goal Shopping Mall
4. Other:
3. Nature of house
3.1 Type of house:
Independent Shack
3.2 Use of structure:
Residential only
Church
Spaza
Other
.
3.3 What is the size of your house?
MT
X
Pre –school
.
MT [e.g. 3.50 mt x 2.95 mt]
3.4 How many rooms does your house have?
1
2
3
4+
4. Eligibility for Housing Subsidy
4.1 Were you ever approved for a housing subsidy?
Yes
No
4.2 Would you like to state your income level for the purpose of understanding how many
households in the community can apply for subsidies?
R
5. Disaster & Relocation History
5.1 Disaster History
(a) Have you ever experienced the following disasters when staying at Los Angeles settlement?
(i) Fire Disaster
Yes
No
how many times?
(ii) Flooding
Yes
No
how many times?
28
(iii) Evictions
Yes
No
how many times?
(iv) If your answer to 5.1 (a) (ii) was YES, what type of flooding affects you?
Under ground water
Leaking roof/wall
Real flooding
5.2 Migration History
(i) How long have you lived in Los Angeles?
Year/s
(ii) Where were you living before you came here? ______________________________________
Year/s
(iii) How long have you lived in Cape Town?
(iv) Why did you choose this area?
Close to family
Close to friends
Close to work
Other __________________________________________
6. Health & Sanitation
6.1 Which toilet do you use?
(i) Bucket System Toilet
(ii) How many people use this toilet?
(iii) Water System (Flushed)
About _______people
(iv) Bush
__
__
____________times p/week
(iv) How often is the bucket emptied?
__
6.2 How many times is the refuse __
(Black Bags) collected in your community?
pe
Once a Week
twice
3 times a week
op a week
le
Once a month
twice a month
or NEVER?
Please Note: All Enumerators have to write their names including dates during the process.
THANK YOU!
ENKOSI!
DANKIE!
ENUMERATOR:_____________________________________
CODE:_________
DATE:____/ _____/ 2010
29