There are many different types of house in Khayelitsha. Some are permanent as they are built from bricks and others are built from scraps of sheet iron and timber. Most people living in Khayelitsha live in informal houses called 'imikhukhu'. These houses are not very comfortable, they leak when it rains, are hot during the day and cold during the night. A major problem with shacks is they are built very close together and allow fires to spread very rapidly through an area. Although some imikhukhu are serviced with electricity, the majority of people still use kerosene stoves for cooking and candles for lighting.
The picture on the right shows a store selling building materials.
