Housing South Africa: Context, Challenges, and Opportunities
Global Trends and African Slum Projections
More than half of the urban population in Africa, totaling million people, currently reside in slums.
Projections estimate that by , the number of people living in slums in Africa will rise to billion.
Current planning systems are often criticized for being overly focused on compliance rather than being developmental or appropriate for local conditions.
Infrastructure is facing significant failures due to being over-burdened, a general lack of maintenance, the growth of informal settlements, and inadequate public transport systems.
National approaches are heavily influenced by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Historical Trends in Global Housing Delivery
1950s – 1960s: Dominant belief that the state was responsible for providing housing and services. Governments focused on delivering low-cost, conventional housing to urban populations.
1970s: Strategies failed to meet rising needs; affordability for the urban poor became a central issue. This led to an increase in unregulated informal settlements and slums.
1960s – 1980s: Emphasis shifted toward reducing costs, lowering standards, and decreasing state responsibility.
Promotion of self-help housing.
Reduction of building standards.
1980s – Current: Phase of reduced state provision and the adoption of "enabling shelter strategies."
Theoretical Frameworks of Housing Delivery Over Time
Modernisation (1950s): High focus on public/private design, site planning, and infrastructure.
Basic Needs (1970s): Introduction of site and service schemes, community participation, and appropriate technology.
Structural Adjustment / Neo-Liberalism (1980s – Present): Focus on upgrading and enablement strategies.
Conceptualizing Reproductive Space and Housing
Shelter Components:
Provision of services.
Community and human development.
The specific role of the market.
Variation in housing types.
Homeownership Considerations:
Ideological and political motivations.
Strategic investment opportunities.
Security of tenure.
Essential Housing Factors:
Land: Includes infrastructure, shelter, utilities, and facilities.
Cost: Focuses on affordability, optimal investment, and access to finance.
Standards: Involves design, density, town planning, and development controls.
Sector Roles and Housing Typologies
Role of the Private Sector:
Market-driven by supply and demand and consumer affordability.
Involvement of financial institutions and banks.
Adaptation to family life cycles and varying housing needs.
Role of the Public Sector:
Partial replacement of market forces with state planning and resource redistribution.
Direct public housing provision.
Intervention to address affordability and achieve professional scale in delivery.
Housing Typologies:
Conventional Housing (Upper to Middle Income): Includes single dwelling single plot, single-detached, and stick-built homes.
Socialized Housing: Row houses.
Modular Homes: Duplex, triplex, and quadruplex configurations.
Complexes and High-Rise: Apartment complexes, townhouses (medium-rise), and high-rise condominiums.
Manufactured/Pre-fabricated Housing.
Mobile Housing: Trailer vans.
Alternative Occupancy: Converted-use property, cooperative housing, and timeshare.
Pro-Poor Strategies: Self-help "core" housing, site and service, in-situ upgrading, rental stock, and social housing.
Historical Context of Public Housing in South Africa
1904 (Colonial/British Influence): Forced removals with racial characters occurred in Ndabeni (Cape Town), Red Location (New Brighton, Port Elizabeth), and Pimville (later part of Soweto, Johannesburg).
Housing Act of 1920: Established the foundation for central government funding of housing.
1950s (Township Construction): Driven by the political needs of racialized South Africa and modernization responses during rapid industrial economic growth.
1994 (Democracy): The beginning of public housing under democratic rule, notably RDP housing.
South African Housing Policy Evolution
De Loor Report (1992): Analyzed housing backlogs and affordability issues.
National Housing Forum (1993): Multi-stakeholder body to build consensus.
Reconstruction and Development Plan (RDP) (1994): Influenced by the Freedom Charter; focused on meeting basic needs.
Botshabelo Summit (1994): The Botshabelo Accord established foundational principles for new housing policy.
White Paper on Housing (1994): Set the strategic framework for delivery.
Constitution Act 108 of 1996: Sections include the Bill of Rights, establishing housing as a basic human right and defining concurrent competencies for national, provincial, and local government.
Gear (1995): Macro-economic policy context.
Housing Act (1997): Outlined roles for tiers of government.
Breaking New Ground (BNG) (2004): Shifted focus from "housing" to "human settlements."
National Housing Code (2009): Provided updated operational guidelines.
White Paper on Housing Policy Specifics
Scale of the Problem:
Geographic disparities between urban/rural areas and provinces.
Low income levels affecting a large majority of the population.
Human Settlement Structure:
Concentrated demand in urban centers.
Inefficient, fragmented, and sprawling cities.
Dispersed rural settlement structures.
Inherited Institutional Failures:
Racially and geographically duplicated institutions.
Massive inefficiencies and wastage of resources.
National Housing Strategy and Vision
Budget Statistics:
of the National Budget in .
Increased to by .
Currently between and of the national budget.
Economic Realities:
Approximately to of households cannot access credit and depend on state capital subsidies.
The state provides a limited, one-off capital subsidy; individuals must "top up" as they are able.
Goals:
Increase state budget share to .
Deliver units per annum.
Achieve a target of million houses in a -year period.
Vision Components:
Establishment of viable, socially integrated communities.
Access to economic opportunities, health, education, and social amenities.
Progressive access to permanent structures with secure tenure, potable water, adequate sanitation, and electricity.
Subsidy Mechanisms
Ownership Subsidies: Individual capital grants.
Collective Ownership Subsidies/Institutional Subsidies.
Social Housing Subsidies: Geared toward rental stock in specific zones.
Rental Subsidies.
Consolidation Subsidies: For households that previously received a serviced site.
Rural Subsidies.
Upgrading Informal Settlements Programme (UISP).
Breaking New Ground (BNG) Policy (2004)
Objectives:
Poverty alleviation and combating crime.
Fostering social cohesion and creating a single residential property market.
Supporting job and asset creation.
The "Megaprojects" Approach: Large-scale settlement schemes containing economic activity and mixed occupancy (e.g., Cosmo City in Johannesburg, Cornubia in Durban).
Key Shifts:
Three-tier subsidy for different income groups.
Emphasis on rental and rent-to-buy.
Eradication of informal settlements through incremental upgrading.
Owners can sell state-subsidized houses after years (reduced from previous limits) to stimulate the lower-end market.
Focused on higher densities and well-located land to achieve racial and social integration.
Weaknesses and Critique of National Policy
Spatial Consequences: Unintended reinforcement of apartheid geography by building on cheap, peripheral land.
Passive Citizenry: The NDP suggests the model produced recipients who are passive rather than active participants in improving neighborhoods.
Backlog: Despite building over million units, the housing backlog is currently greater than it was in .
Bureaucracy: Challenges in financial management and municipal capacity.
Supply-Driven Approach: Often ignores actual demand and lacks choice in tenure types.
National Development Plan (NDP) 2012 Shifts
Apex Priorities: Growing the economy, building human capabilities, and building a capable state.
Housing Progress (1994-2010):
million subsidized units built.
water access; sanitation and electricity access.
Recommendations:
Review the capital subsidy instrument.
Better instruments for informal settlement regularization.
Focus on affordable inner-city housing and urban renewal rather than only "greenfield" projects.
Adopt the normative principles of Spatial Justice, Spatial Sustainability, Spatial Resilience, Spatial Quality, and Spatial Efficiency.
SPLUMA and Informal Settlements
Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA): Requires municipalities to integrate informal settlements into spatial systems.
Incrementalism: Emphasizes incremental upgrading and flexibility in land use regulation.
Case of eThekwini: Recognizes that formal planning approvals are too slow for the scale of need. Prioritizes the provision of basic services and functional tenure security over relocation.
Legislative and Case Law Milestones
PIE Act 19 of 1998: Protects against arbitrary eviction; courts must consider if evictees will be left homeless.
Rental Housing Act 50 of 1999: Regulates landlord-tenant relationships.
Grootboom Case (2000): Constitutional Court ruled the state must provide emergency shelter for those in desperate need.
Blue Moonlight (2011): Ruled that the state (specifically local government) is responsible for alternative accommodation for those evicted from private property.
Social Housing Act 15 of 2008: Established the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA).
Housing Institutions and Programs
National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC): Established .
National Urban Reconstruction & Housing Agency (NURCHA): Established .
Housing Development Agency (HDA): Established .
Rural Housing Loan Fund (RHLF): Established .
Programs: Individual Housing Subsidy; People’s Housing Process (PHP); Integrated Residential Development Programme (IRDP); Community Residential Units (CRU); Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP).
Modern Innovations and Future Opportunities
Mill Junction, Johannesburg: Innovative student housing utilizing two former grain silos topped with four floors of colorful shipping containers.
Opportunities:
Development of a new housing market.
Growth of downstream industries and SMMEs.
Potential for community co-production.
Implementation of SPLUMA for better spatial governance.
Closing Principles: Focus on correcting historical wrongs, confronting inequality, and securing an equity-based future through multiple forms of landholding.