The government should not adopt a ”one-size-fits-all” approach to upgrading informal settlements across South Africa, a leading housing development NGO has cautioned.
”A one-size-fits-all upgrading policy won’t work. It needs to be flexible and the community must buy into the process for it to work,” said Warren Smit, programme manager at the Development Action Group (DAG).
Smit was speaking ahead of Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu presenting a comprehensive housing plan for informal settlements to the Cabinet.
Smit said community participation in preparing and implementing the upgrade policy is ”vital”. Research conducted into 40 projects around the country last year showed that where communities were not involved, the housing projects failed.
”Because of the rush for delivery, I hope that community participation does not become a casualty,” said Smit.
He said informal settlements have mushroomed in recent years. About a million households lived in informal settlements in 1996, rising to 1,4-million in 2001.
Smit said the 2001 census figures showed a housing backlog of about 2,4-million units, of which the majority were households in informal settlements.
”The national delivery rate has decreased every year for the past few years,” said Smit, adding that there might now be a rapid increase in delivery.
He said the Housing White Paper of 1994 recommended that 5% of total government expenditure be for housing, but currently only 1,3% is used for this purpose.
”South Africa has definitely been underspending on housing, when the average for developing countries is to spend 2% of the total government expenditure on housing.”
He said the upgrade policy would fill a ”big gap” in the country’s housing delivery strategy. There was no formal mechanism for upgrade before. The new policy could precipitate the turnaround needed to solve the chronic housing shortage.
Smit said the DAG wants the policy to focus on in situ upgrading to help prevent mass relocation of communities with associated socio-economic travails, such as increased transport costs, disruption of social networks and damage to livelihoods.
”There must also be more focus on incremental upgrading as opposed to the current model, where a new housing scheme just springs up. Basic services such as water, sanitation, storm-water drainage and fire hydrants must first be provided to everybody and then we can upgrade incrementally,” said Smit.
He said the government should move away from hiring contractors to build thousands of homes and instead embrace the ”people’s housing process”, where residents manage the building of their own homes and have incentives to save and expand, instead of being dissatisfied with poorly built Reconstruction and Development Programme houses.
The policy should also thoroughly address tenure rights. Smit suggested a phased change from informal tenure to formal individual ownership of houses.
”Housing microfinancing from the private sector and non-profit organisations such as the Kuyasa Fund needs to be further explored and expanded … Eligibility criteria must also be addressed, with the new policy needing to be more flexible in terms of who qualifies to own a home and who doesn’t,” said Smit.
Thami Maqelana of the People’s Dialogue and Homeless People’s Federation said residents should be involved in the upgrading process right from the start.
”This process should not just be a mechanical process where houses are built, but should be developmental. The people must be able to decide and help with the total structure, and what facilities such as schools and clinics are [established] there,” he said.
Maqelana said his organisations do not necessarily object to resettlement, but where this happens communities should be ”comfortable” with the new areas.
Meanwhile, Department of Housing spokesperson Thabang Chiloane said there is no fixed date for the plan to be submitted to the Cabinet.
He said Sisulu and others are still ”fine-tuning” the document, which took its cue from President Thabo Mbeki’s State of the Nation address earlier this year.
Chiloane said the plan considers issues such as rental stock for the poor and accelerating the provision of housing. — Sapa