Backyard shacks and the urban housing crisis: stopgap or prototype solution

The number of households living in backyard dwellings increased by 55% during the previous decade, while the number living in free-standing shacks decreased by more than 120 000. For policies to effectively deal with the rapid growth in backyard shacks it is necessary to get behind the social processes at work, write Jackie Borel-Saladin and Ivan Turok.