Urban population growth and housing problems in Tanzania: a case study of Dar es Salaam city

Urban Population growth in Tanzania has been accelerating after the second world war. Rural-Urban migration has been the main contributor. With limited sustainable resources to cope with the influx of migrants, this has triggered the scarcity of housing units and essential services and facilities in the high residential housing areas. The major findings are summarized below depending on the responses of the total 872 respondents; 765 being migrants which is 87.7% of the total. About 250 dwellings are covered in the survey; 125 in Kawe and 125 in Buguruni high residential housing areas. Firstly, the study area is characterized by people with low level of education attainment; almost 71 percent have primary education and only 1.4 percent have post-secondary education. Most of the respondents are employed in the informal sector; 42.3 percent being self-employed and 15.1 percent unemployed; 60 percent of the respondents are semiskilled, 30.7 percent unskilled and 9.3 percent skilled. Secondly, the housing units are over-crowded per room per occupants (77%) of the total 250 dwellings. About 31.1 percent have rented only one room. Thirdly, the housing units lack essential facilities and services such as public and community ones. For instance, only 2% throw the garbage to the dump and 70% have no direct piped water supply. Fourthly, in most cases some of the housing units are dilapidated and sub-standard; 21.2 % without kitchen; 94% with pit latrine and 4.4% without toilets; 53.2% have public bathrooms and toilets together. Finally, most of the population are rural to urban migrants. The main contributor of migrants is the Eastern Zone 39.7 percent, followed by the Southern Zone, which contributes 16.5 percent.