Figures show that the numbers of houses built in South Africa are now greater than those of Cuba, Singapore and Sweden countries used as benchmarks throughout the world
Barry Streek
Between 4,5-million and 5-million South Africans have been given “secure tenure” homes since 1994 a level of delivery unsurpassed anywhere in the world, Minister of Housing Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele said this week.
It has also created an asset base for these new homeowners of R28- billion.
“We have created, and still do, an investment base for people a source for generating wealth,” she said. “When people own property, they are likely to take care of it and improve its value. In this way, the houses built through a government subsidy assume a better quality as they are renovated and extended. The owners can finally use the house as collateral with the banks. So what we are doing through housing is to create that collateral base.”
She cites her personal experience of growing up in Meadowlands, Soweto, to illustrate her argument.
“My parents were not interested in improving that unit because they would tell us ‘we are renting this house, we don’t own it, it’s council property’. But when people begin to own property, they look at it as an asset.
“Phola Park is a case in point one of our first projects in Gauteng,” she said. “I never thought the area would look like what it is today. People have extended their units and we are now talking about big houses that look like middle income.”
Next on Mthembi-Mahanyele’s agenda is the launch of a scheme that encourages people to save in order to qualify for an immediate housing subsidy. In terms of the scheme, a potential beneficiary’s savings are used as collateral in getting a government housing subsidy.
“We are basically saying to people: ‘What are you bringing to the table to add value to it?’ Preference will then go to those who made an effort to save and contribute to the cost of a house.”
According to Mthembi-Mahanyele, between 1994 and last December, 1 129 612 houses were delivered and 370 000 title deeds were transferred to people who previously rented council houses in the townships. A further 350 000 council houses are to be transferred this year.
“The R40-billion government has spent on a variety of housing programmes, including subsidies, the transfer of council houses I think it is no mean feat.”
Mthembi-Mahanyele’s comments are backed by a Banking Council study which found that no other country in the world had provided as many new houses in the same period of time. Housing delivery figures for South Africa now surpass those of Cuba, Singapore and Sweden, countries that are used as benchmarks throughout the world.
Mthembi-Mahanyele said the greatest challenge facing South Africa on the housing front is to “remove the scourge” of all informal settlements, but it will take about 15 or 20 years, because of, inter alia, the state of the economy.
On the legislative front, April 1 will see the extension of the Housing Consumers Protection Measures Act to all new government-subsidised housing schemes.
The Act provides for a warranty that will ensure that all houses are fit for habitation, built in a workmanlike manner, comply with national housing technical requirements and carry a five-year major structural defects warranty from the home builder.
The Home Loan Mortgage Disclosure Bill had already been approved by Parliament’s portfolio and select committees for housing and will be passed by Parliament during the current session. The Bill provides for equity and fairness in lending and disclosure by financial institutions.
A third Bill, the Housing Amendment Bill, provides for a safety valve against possible abuse of the housing subsidy scheme. The Bill seeks to restrict the sale of housing provided via use of the government subsidy by preventing people from selling houses below market rates or within eight years unless they are sold back to the municipal council under defined conditions that are expected to be tabled in Parliament this year.
In terms of the Bill, in the event of people confronting a crisis or in cases of social mobility, it will be possible to give councils first preference on Reconstruction and Development Programme houses which could then be added to the pool of housing available in the area.
These provisions would also apply to the transfer of former council- owned houses. “We need to halt some of the practices that are going on in the country. These are not widespread yet. It is better to nip them in the bud.”