SA to accelerate housing delivery
Clive Ndou
23 September 2005
The waiting could soon be over for thousands of homeless South Africans who are on the government's list to receive low-income houses.
This follows Thursday's ambitious pledge by banks, the government and other housing stakeholders to commit more resources towards low-income housing.
The pledge, signed in Cape Town, binds all housing stakeholders to a contract compelling them to increase the construction of low-cost housing by more than 200 000 units per year.
Housing Indaba
The agreement, titled "Social Contract for Rapid Housing Delivery", will see signatories working together to remove bottlenecks in housing delivery, investing more resources in low-cost housing and fast-tracking delivery.
The signing preceded last week's Housing Indaba that ended on Friday. Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said the Indaba would form guidelines for the implementation of the contract.
"We have reached a
stage where we no longer have the luxury to engage in prolonged deliberations. The contract that we committed ourselves to today will be implemented immediately after this Indaba," she said.
Revisiting targets
The government is currently building low-cost housing at a rate of 200 000 per annum, with a backlog of 2.4-million units.
Given current housing trends, Sisulu said that in 10 years the country would be facing the same backlog it was sitting with today, and would not achieve its Millennium Development Goal of eradicating informal settlements by 2014.
"Between 1996 and 2001, the number of households living in shacks and backyards increased from 1.45-million to 1.8-million, reflecting an increase of 26 percent. Unless we revisit our targets and come up with new solutions, we won't address this problem," she said.
Property boom
The minister cited the unequal distribution of resources in the
country as one of the major reasons compounding housing problems.
"This inequality is no more palpable than in housing, where at one end of the spectrum there has been a property boom, with housing prices recording the highest growth in the world, and at the other we have 2.4-million people living in conditions that are unacceptable in a country such as ours," she said.
To deal with this inequality in the housing market, the contract stipulates that for a developer to be allowed to construct new upmarket housing projects, he/she should contribute a percentage towards low-income housing.
One of the objectives of the contract, as stated in the Social Contract for Rapid Housing Delivery, states: "To ensure that every commercial development including housing developments that are not directed to those earning R1 500 or less, spend a minimum of 20% on the construction of homes within human settlements for those who qualify for government subsidies."
Earlier this
year, South African banks pledged R42-billion for the low-income housing market.
Jopie van Haischooten, who represented banks during the signing of the contract, reaffirmed the banking sector's commitment to the contract. "We view this as the start of a journey of transforming South Africa's housing market," he said.
Source: BuaNews
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