The backlog of housing currently stands at 2,4-million houses across South Africa, and the government hopes to reduce or do away with the shortfall by 2014.
”Yes, there is a problem with the backlog,” housing director general Itumeleng Kotsoane said in an interview in Pretoria on Thursday.
Kotsoane detailed the obstacles faced in the housing sector and outlined current plans to tackle the problem.
He said the government builds about 250 000 houses a year, and 2,3-million houses had been built since 1994.
However, many South Africans tend to gloss over the issue of backlogs in the Housing Department without putting the matter into context.
”Historically, policies of the previous government excluded African people from having access to land for housing and when the takeover took place in 1994, we knew drastic measures were needed.
”We didn’t understand the depth of need by people and recently when we reviewed progress made in the past ten years, we found that gaps in our delivery process had to do with planning,” he said.
”Poor construction work and availability of land are some of the hindrances we have in the delivery programme, but we are on target.”
The government is in the process of finalising the policy for inclusionary housing, which will see low-cost houses being built in the same area as high-cost housing.
There are currently ten programmes that have integrated this system, with one being launched next to the R59 in Pretoria on Friday.
Kotsoane said research done in the United States and United Kingdom showed that these countries had implemented inclusionary housing.
”It is possible for people to live together in harmony irrespective of race and class,” he said.
On whether such a plan will work in South Africa, Kotsoane said: ”It must work. It’s going to be legislation enforced by law.”
Inclusionary housing will be applicable irrespective of whether or not the land is privately owned.
While people argue about putting the poor and rich next to each other, most dwellers in the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) houses complain that government-built houses are falling apart.
The problem started when big developers in 1998 moved out of the low-cost housing market.
Kotsoane said these were replaced by emerging contractors who occupied their space and their ”quality of work wasn’t up to scratch”.
”We are in the process of correcting this with the help of the National Homebuilders’ Registration Council and each province is busy with audits on the damage of houses.”
Provinces like Gauteng and Limpopo have already started with the audits.
”We will only be looking at the houses that became defective as a result of poor workmanship.”
HE said owners of RDP houses need to be aware that regardless of whether the house is free, it is an asset and the value of it is based on how one takes care of it.
”We need to educate people about title deeds and about what they mean and that having a house is a great asset as property appreciates over time,” Kotsoane said. — Sapa