Jakupa has launched its Subsidized Housing Research Project with the appointment of Paula Cassas as its first researcher. The aim of the project is two-fold: to get involved in the subsidized housing debate through activism with the ultimate aim of influencing housing policy and to make information related to the issue widely available and relevant for everyday consumption. The scope of the research project is an unfunded endeavour where we rely on the voluntary interest and participation of anyone and everyone in the built environment to build a body of knowledge that serves a public interest.

Paula Cassas has recently graduated in Architecture and Urban Planning in Brazil. She worked for two years on housing plans for Brazilian municipalities and doing research on its informal settlements before visiting Cape Town as a site for building her research portfolio. Her task is to investigate the right to adequate shelter as enshrined in our constitution with the prevailing methods of determining beneficiary eligibility in the Western Cape, with particular focus on whether women headed households benefit from the scheme.

We welcome Paula to Jakupa and wish that her stay is fruitful and beneficial not only towards her quest for knowledge but that she leaves her legacy with us through her research work