Indicator 11.1.1 Proportion of urban population living in slums, informal settlements or inadequate housing

Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable]

By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums]

Proportion of urban population living in slums, informal settlements or inadequate housing]

2024]

Direct relation 

1.1.1; 1.1.2; 6.1.1 Access to Improved Water; 6.2.1 Access to Improved Sanitation; 7.1.1 Access to Electricity; 8.3.1 Informal Employment; 8.5.2 Unemployment Rate 

8.6.1 Youth Unemployment; 10.2.1 Population below Median Income; 10.1.1 Grow rates of the poorest 40%; 11.2.1 Public Transit Stop Coverage; 11.5.1 Population Affected by Hazardous Events; 11.6.1 Solid Waste Collection; 11.7.1 Accessibility to Open Public Area; 11.7.2 Public Space Safety for Women; 16.1.1 Homicide rate; 16.1.3 Population subjected to Violence.]

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics]

Manager, Cartography/GIS]

Cartography/GIS Division]

Undertake Geospatial data collection, compilation, integration, analysis and dissemination. Develop and manage geospatial data bases]

2911000/1,3317612/22/23/51]

P.O Box 30266-00100]

dpss@knbs.or.ke]

The housing sector together with its institutions, laws and regulations, is one that touches every single aspect of the economy of a country and has interface with practically every social development sector. Naturally,people living in adequate homes have better health, higher chances to improve their human capital and seize the opportunities available in urban contexts. A housing sector that performs well acts as a ‘development multiplier’ benefiting complementary industries, contributing to economic development, employment generation, service provision and overall poverty reduction.

Inadequate housing remains a global challenge in ensuring citizens have access to better living conditions and also benefiting from other ‘development multiplier’ services.

As per the 2030 Agenda, it is necessary to identify and quantify the proportion of the population that live in slums, informal settlements and those living in inadequate housing in order to inform the development of the appropriate policies and programmes for ensuring access for all to adequate housing and the upgrading of slums.

Slums – An expert group meeting was convened in 2002 by UN-Habitat, the United Nations Statistics Division and the Cities Alliance to agree on an operational definition for slums to be used for measuring the indicator of MDG 7 Target 7.D. The agreed definition classified a ‘slum household’ as one in which the inhabitants suffer one or more of the following ‘household deprivations’: Lack of access to improved water source, Lack of access to improved sanitation facilities, Lack of sufficient living area, Lack of housing durability and, Lack of security of tenure.

By extension, the term ‘slum dweller’ refers to a person living in a household that lacks any of the above attributes

Informal Settlements – Informal settlements are usually seen as synonymous of slums, with a particular focus on the formal status of land, structure and services. They are defined by three main

criteria, according to Habitat III Issue Paper #2210, which are already covered in the definition of slums. These are:

1. Inhabitants have no security of tenure vis-à-vis the land or dwellings they inhabit, with modalities ranging from squatting to informal rental housing,

2. The neighbourhoods usually lack, or are cut off from, formal basic services and city infrastructure, and

3. The housing may not comply with current planning and building regulations, is often situated in geographically and environmentally hazardous areas, and may lack a municipal permit.

Informal settlements can be occupied by all income levels of urban residents, affluent and poor.

Inadequate Housing – Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes housing as one of the components of the right to adequate standards of living for all.11 The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ general comments No.4 (1991) on the right to adequate housing and No.7 (1997) on forced evictions have underlined that the right to adequate housing should be seen as the right to live somewhere in security, peace and dignity. For housing to be adequate, it must provide more than four walls and a roof, and at a minimum, meet the following criteria: Legal security of tenure, Availability of services, materials, facilities and infrastructure, including safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, energy for cooking, heating, lighting, food storage or refuse disposal; Affordability, Habitability, Accessibility, Location, and Cultural adequacy,

Proportion (percentage)]

Data for the slum/informal settlements components of the indicator are computed from the Census and Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (KIHBS).

Data for the inadequate housing component are computed through income and household surveys that capture housing expenditures such as Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (KIHBS), Kenya Demographic Health Surveys (KDHS), Census]

The computation of this indicator is mainly based on analysis of existing data sources including population and housing censuses and household surveys that contain information on all five components of slum: improved water, improved sanitation, durable housing, sufficient living area and secure tenure. Nationally representative household surveys, which typically collect information on water, sanitation and housing conditions i.e. Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (KIHBS), Kenya Demographic Health Surveys (KDHS)

Census every 10 years, Households surveys every 5 years ]

Every 10 years 5 years(Census), Every]

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics]

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics]

Kenya National bureau of Statistics]

Most of the criteria for defining slums, informal settlements and inadequate housing overlap. The three criteria of informal settlements are essentially captured in the definition of slums, which sustains the combination of both (slums/informal settlements). Both aspects of slums and informal settlements are therefore combined into one component of the indicator, providing some continuity with what was captured under MDG 7.

Later, a composite index will be developed that will incorporate all measures (combining slum/informal settlements and inadequate housing) and provide one estimate.

On inadequate housing, seven criteria of adequate housing, the three that are not covered by slums / informal settlements are affordability, accessibility and cultural adequacy. Affordability is the most relevant and easier to measure.

Housing affordability is not only a key housing adequacy criterion, but is a suitable means of measuring inadequate housing in a more encompassing manner, as it remains a global challenge across different countries and income levels, with strong negative impact on urban inequality.

The underlying principle is that household financial costs associated with housing should not threaten or compromise the attainment and satisfaction of other basic needs such as, food, education, access to health care, transport, etc. Based on the existing method and data of UN-Habitat’s Urban Indicators Program (1996-2006), unaffordability is currently measured as the net monthly expenditure on housing cost that exceeds 30% of the total monthly income of the household.]

• Difficulties on agreeing universally on some definitions and characteristics when referring to deteriorated housing conditions, often due to political or economic considerations.
• Lack of appropriate tools at national levels to measure all components required by Indicator 11.1.1, sometimes resulting in the underestimation of deteriorated housing units.
• The complicated relation between security of tenure with land and property makes it a difficult, but vital, aspect to include in the different surveys, and thus, to measure and monitor.
• Indicator 11.1.1 does not capture homelessness.
• Many countries still have limited capacities for data collection, management and analysis, their update and monitoring which are key to ensure national and global data consistency.]

The two components to be computed are as follows:

1. Percentage of people living in Slum/Informal Settlements households (SISH):

1. Percentage of people living in Inadequate housing households (IHH):

The unit of measurements for all these indicators is percent ( %).]

Data compiled is checked against several criteria including the data sources used, the application of internationally agreed definitions, classification and methodologies to the data from that source, etc.]

A step-by-step data compilation and computation methodological document applicable at national level and developed by UN-Habitat is available at: https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/2020/06/indicator_11.1.1_training_module_adequate_housing_and_slum_upgrading.pdf. ]

The Bureau being ISO 9001:2015 certified, has a quality management system in place that ensures that data produced meets the set international standards.

The detailed tutorials, which will be continuously updated are available at https://unhabitat.org/knowledge/data-and-analytics, https://www.urbanagendaplatform.org/learning, and https://data.unhabitat.org/.

The Bureau adheres to Kenya Statistical Quality Assurance Framework (KeSQAF) that ensures statistics produced meets the need of the users]

In adherence to the ISO 9001:2015 requirements the Bureau carries out it’s own internal audits based on KeSQAF Guidelines that ensures high quality statistics are produced.

Available from the Census and KIHBS reports at the county level]

None, the Bureau adheres to the Kenya Statistical Quality Assurance Framework (KeSQAF) that ensures statistics produced meets the need of the users]

[1]:http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/natlinfo/indicators/methodology_sheets.pdf  

[2]: http://unhabitat.org/urban-indicators-guidelines/  

[3]:http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Metadata.aspx?IndicatorId=0&SeriesId=710

[4]: http://unhabitat.org/urban-initiatives/initiatives-programmes/participatory-slum-upgrading/  

[5]: http://unhabitat.org/slum-almanac-2015-2016/

[6]: http://wcr.unhabitat.org/

[7]: http://www.unhabitat.org/programmes/guo/documents/EGM final report 4 Dec 02.pdf ]