Exploring the People’s Housing Process: An application of the 1986 Rhodes Policy Network model

A formal policy supporting the People’s Housing Process (PHP) was released in 1998. This policy and subsequent support measures in many ways mandates a policy implementation network. The South African Department of Housing’s (DOH) interpretation of self-built housing as expressed in the PHP should, however, be regarded as a response to and reflection of survival strategies that had already been employed by communities prior to 1998. The researcher therefore turned to the policy network literature to explore PHP project characteristics. The central research question was whether the 1986 Rhodes Policy Network model is a useful heuristic device for exploring PHP project characteristics. This was done by first subsuming network characteristics as contained within the 1986 Rhodes model under appropriate network dimensions. Using case studies, indicators were then developed for the presence of various network characteristics.