BACKGROUND TO THE COUNTRIES’ HOUSING POLICY AND HOUSING ACT

1. BACKGROUND TO THE COUNTRIES’ HOUSING POLICY AND HOUSING ACT PRESENTATION TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE 9 JUNE 2009

2. INTRODUCTION • In order to fully appreciate the complexity of the housing programme it is considered essential to have a common understanding of the range of human settlements that we need to serve. • There is no internationally agreed classification but this presentation attempts to provide an interpretation of the South African settlement context

3. OUTLINE • Towards a common understanding of South African human settlements • The White Paper on a New Housing Policy and Strategy for South Africa, 1994 • The Housing Act, 1996

4. TOWARDS A COMMON UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN SETTLEMENT TYPOLOGIES

5. Settlement types • Human Settlements are complex social and economic phenomena which exist along an urban-rural continuum • No commonly agreed definition of “urban” and “rural” and clearly defined physical & social boundary between urban and rural areas • Urban and rural areas are economically, socially and environmentally interdependent • Major differentiation in the actual form of housing and types of tenure

6. Settlement continuum

7. Differentiation of settlements by tenure arrangements for housing policy purposes

8. Settlements with secure freehold and rental tenure

9. Metropolitan areas • Region wide urban footprint • Established formal core of industrial, commercial and suburban development; • Formal townships, hostels and backyards; • Informal settlements with significant subsidised housing on the periphery; • High rates of (circular) migration • Highest concentrations of urban poor; • Examples –Gauteng, Durban, Cape Town

10. Gauteng Metropolitan Area

11. Durban metro

12. Primary cities • Typically former colonial administrative centres • Province wide urban footprint • Provincial hubs of mining and industrial areas • Limited suburban stock, formalised townships extended with subsidised housing and informal settlements; • Examples – Kimberly, Bloemfontein, East London

13. Primary city

14. Primary city

15. Secondary cities • Established formal core of mining, commerce and suburban development; • Often linked to old former “homeland” settlements in vicinity • Formal townships with backyards; informal and traditional settlements, • Significant subsidised housing on the periphery; • Rapid urbanisation and extreme levels of poverty; • Examples – Nelspruit, Rustenburg, Polokwane, Witbank-Middelburg

16. Secondary city

17. Secondary city

18. Small towns • Typically a small commercial, administrative, farming or tourist node; • Small, ageing formal housing stock; • Former township usually spatially integrated over time with the ‘old’ town through subsidised housing and informal settlements; • Diminished social services • Struggling economies, almost non-existent prospects for formal employment • Examples – Wakkerstroom, Lady Frere

19. Small town

20. Small town

21. Settlements with communal tenure

22. Settlements with communal tenure • Households in rural areas who enjoy functional security of tenure (communal tenure); • Conflicting / contested land rights • Variety of densities • The poorest of the poor - elderly, women and children pre-dominate • Lack of social and economic development opportunities

23. Settlements with communal tenure • Economy - subsistence farming but dependent on grants and remittances • Some overcrowding, leading to poor utilisation of land; • Subject to seasonal / circular migration • Examples – Ingonyama Trust KZN, former “homeland” areas Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Eastern Cape.

24. Communal land tenure (KZN)

25. Medium dense rural settlement (EC)

26. Communal land tenure - homesteads

27. Displaced dense settlements • Informal settlements on traditional land • Apartheid settlement patterns • Characterised by absence of formal industrial or commercial activity • Dependent on urban remittances and government grants • Out-migration and split urban-rural lifestyles common • Examples - Bushbuckridge

28. Displaced dense rural settlement (Mpumalanga)

29. Farm settlements

30. Intensive commercial farming areas • High yield farming; • Characterised by low labour inputs except in times of cropping; • Usually served by agri-villages / small towns • Examples – Fruit farming areas, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga

31. Intensive farming

32. Large commercial farms • Significant consolidation over past decade • Increasing mechanisation • Marked by labour evictions in response to land legislation • Driving growth in poor populations in small towns – “poverty traps” • Low labour need except in cropping season • Worker housing varies from very poor to good • Central Free State – grain farming

33. Large commercial farms

34. Extensive commercial farming areas • Cattle and game farming in areas of low agricultural potential • Serviced by a small labour force • Housing usually on-farm and of uneven quality • Examples – Cattle and game farms around Northern provinces

35. Extensive commercial farming

36. Subsistence farming • Communal land rights • Mostly women • Far from markets and poor infrastructure • Mostly own consumption • Incomes augmented with remittances from urban areas and government grants

37. Subsistence farming

38. Policy implications • Constitutional obligation on State to progressively realise the right to adequate housing within the available means. • The National Housing Programme responds to the housing needs of all the settlement types and is continuously evolving as the socio-economic environment changes.

39. Thank you

40. Brief background to the New Housing Policy and Strategy for South Africa,1994

41. Background • Multi-party and stakeholder negotiations in the National Housing Forum culminated in the Housing White Paper, being approved in December, 1994 • The policy was shaped by the prevailing context of the housing situation and past housing practices and settlement laws.

42. Housing challenges1994 • Population estimated at 43,5m • 43% unemployment • 55%of households earned below R1 000,00 pm (poverty line at the time) • Large informal sector not contributing to tax base • Only 16,9 % of households could house themselves • 83,1% of households earned R3 500 and less and needed housing assistance

43. Housing challenges1994 Housing backlog: • 1,5 to 3 million households in need of housing assistance • 200 000 new households per annum • 5 million traditional dwellings • 25% no access to potable water • 48% no sanitation facilities • 46,5% no access to electricity

44. The White Paper, 1994 Strategic thrusts: • Stabilising the housing environment • Supporting the housing process • Mobilising housing credit • Providing housing subsidy assistance • Rationalising the institutional framework • Facilitate speedy release of serviced land • Coordinating public sector investment

45. The White Paper, 1994 Key impacts • Introduction and refinement of housing subsidy scheme and backlog • Rationalising of roles and responsibilities and legislation • Mobilising housing finance National Housing Finance Corporation, Mortgage Indemnity Fund, • Rightsizing Servcon / Thubelisha • People’s Housing Process

46. Housing Act, 1996

47. Housing Act, 1996 • Defines the housing process • Sets general principles • Defines roles and responsibilities of government spheres • Provides for - National Housing Code, National Housing Information System, National and Provincial Housing Development Plans • Establishes the South African Housing fund and Provincial Housing Funds

48. Housing Act, 1996 • Rationalises previous housing legislation • Provides for the termination of “old” business dispensation • Has gone through a number of amendments most significantly: • Abolishing provincial housing boards • Pre-emptive right • Procurement policy

49. Discussion Questions?