Housing needs of informal sector workers: The case of Yogyakarta, Indonesia

This paper aims to demonstrate the need for specifically targeted housing schemes for informal sector workers. It argues that a lack of individual affordability is not the universally applicable constraint for housing these workers, what is universal is the official unwillingness to accept informal sector employment as reliable collateral for access to the institutionally provided housing. Overall findings suggest that provision of an official housing programme for the informal sector workers is desirable and supportable. Three housing schemes are proposed according to variation in income, job stability and length of residence, and corresponding variability in housing needs and priorities among the informal sector workers in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. These are (1) provision of transitional settlements for the ‘footholders’ and ‘adaptors’, (2) improvement of existing settlements for ‘network extenders’ and ‘competitors’, and (3) provision of new settlements for the ‘consolidators’ and ‘successors’ (low cost housing), and for ‘steaders’ and ‘identity seekers’ (modern standard housing).