A place to call home is a basic human need. Living in a house you own, with adequate services, means the property is an asset, giving you real wealth.
It has been more than three years since Uhuru Nene took up one of the most challenging portfolios in the City - that of running the housing directorate. Somewhat bemused, the executive director of the department of housing admits that the challenges have been more far-reaching than she thought.
The department's vision goes beyond building top structures and ensuring people have access to affordable housing. It also wants to bring adequate housing to the approximately 350,000 people who live in shacks across Johannesburg by formalising informal settlements where feasible and bringing about better service delivery there. "We have come to appreciate that challenges in housing are really cross-cutting," Nene says.
The explosive population growth in Johannesburg over the past decade has prompted the department to speed up housing delivery. To add to its challenges, other aspects not strictly associated with housing, such as economic development, healthcare, environmental impact issues, service delivery and so forth, come into play, she says.
"It [housing] is a broad challenge. Other challenges manifest themselves in housing needs." She says to date the department has supplied essential services to 100,000 stands and these still require house construction.
Mixed-income housing
Nene places housing firmly within the social welfare framework. More, she sees it as a tool through which real social upliftment can take place, with housing developments where rich and poor live side-by-side.
Cosmo City is an example of such a mixed-income housing project, proving that it is a tenable alternative for people of different social backgrounds to live in harmony. The City of Johannesburg was a project partner where it developed engineering bulk and link services such as water, sanitation and roads.
"For the viability and sustainability of settlements one needs mixed-income developments." Nene cites a number of benefits - money circulates within the community through entrepreneurial activities, for example "by utilising the local plumber".
Bringing indigent communities into the fabric of a functional, properly serviced society, raising their expectations in life and creating a need towards betterment are other spin-offs, she believes.
Above all, Nene has a deep concern for children and feels that they should be exposed to more visible and better role models. To create "a whole community of indigents" is looking for trouble, she feels.
The City will deliver 50,000 mixed-income housing units over the next four years through various private and public partnerships.
A sense of ownership
The Housing Act of 1997 mandates municipalities to implement housing programmes in line with their Integrated Development Plans. For its part, Johannesburg works with a number of groups to achieve this mandate, the most important of which is the provincial housing department.
Before 1994, black communities did not really engage in the property market, mainly because of the political history of the city, Nene explains. Since then, people have taken to the concept of property ownership and investment, realising that property has a real asset and allows a tangible legacy for their children or family.
Almost 15,000 title deeds were delivered in 2006 and another 55,000 households will get tenure security through the delivery of title deeds in the next four years. But, she maintains, "educational programmes are necessary, teaching people about property and its value".
In light of this, a beneficiary education programme is to focus on giving first-time property owners a clear understanding of their property rights and obligations.
Subsidy accreditation
The Gauteng housing department gives housing subsidies to the City to fulfil its obligations. Housing subsidies for individual households were initiated over a decade ago in an effort by the state to give residents ownership; a housing subsidy is now R38k.
The City housing department is awaiting accreditation to allow it to run its own housing subsidy schemes. At present it acts as agent for the provincial department. This makes the subsidy process cumbersome.
In terms of the current status, the provincial government appropriates housing funds from the national government, distributing the cash to all municipalities in Gauteng.
Johannesburg has already been granted an in-principle level one accreditation status by the provincial department. Once the full status of accreditation has been granted, the City will liaise directly with the national Housing Department on the budgets and programmes it intends to implement.
"Housing is a concurrent function of national and provincial governments, being responsible for the programmes. However, it is important to note that people do not go to the provincial government for housing problems. They go to ward councillors, who in turn come to us."
Eradicating backlogs
The revised Housing Sector Plan and the development of the Housing Policy Framework will guide the department in terms of eradicating housing backlogs.
Nene says her unit is working on a "very rough estimate" of 450,000 housing units required overall for Johannesburg, of which approximately 70,000 are in the inner city. The City has a target of 100,000 housing opportunities for this mayoral term, ending in 2011.
Above all there is a need for affordable rental units. "People come to work here [in Johannesburg] but they do not necessarily want to stay forever."
Hence the Johannesburg Social Housing Company, or Joshco, was set up in 2003. First, "Joshco was established to manage the City's housing stock and develop affordable social housing stock on behalf of the City".
Second, the City could not develop more rental stock because it was unable to access the institutional subsidy provided for such developments by the Gauteng government. "The City realised it was running low on rental stock and established Joshco to access the subsidy."
Her department has an oversight role over the company. The City, through Joshco, will deliver 15,000 additional rental housing units in this mayoral term.
Formalising informal settlements
The current confirmed figure for informal settlements within the greater Johannesburg metropolitan area is 235. Of these, 52 are targeted for formalisation this year. Another 31 will be relocated to major development projects such as Lehae, Cosmo City, Pennyville and Doornkop.
The formalisation programme involves establishing and registering the area as a township and allocating title deeds. "It is not informal settlement upgrade."
Because housing needs are so great, it is important "to give people certainty through formal housing".
Nene feels that the process allows people to develop a sense of pride in and ownership of their properties. She mentions Kliptown as an example, where people have started to keep their area tidy and well-maintained.
An important supporting project that forms part of formalisation is the fencing programme. Many problems in townships and informal settlements arise from encroachment on to neighbouring properties, Nene explains. With the fencing programme, a stand is properly demarcated and given a number and street address, which also helps when emergency services needs to locate a site.
The formalisation programme extends to typical township areas such as Orlando East and Zola, in Soweto, where one often finds "one house surrounded by up to 10 shacks". The idea behind the priority townships programme – a total of 20 have been identified – is to focus on decay and service provision, "which were never very good in the first place".
"Formalisation is a package. Better still, it is about dignity."
Community involvement
But the aspect of housing delivery that gives Nene the greatest joy and satisfaction is experiencing the involvement of community members in the building process.
Called Letsema, the community builder programme aims to involve community builders in the building of houses – their own, their neighbours', others'. It is based on African traditions, where communities helped each other during the harvesting season without financial reward.
Letsema is a partnership between the housing department and the People's Housing Process, a programme that encourages people to help construct their own houses, with financial assistance from the government. Under Letsema and the People's Housing Process, 1,000 houses are being built in Doornkop, Orange Farm, Ivory Park and Diepsloot.
The concept of voluntary assistance has been adjusted somewhat and entails training community members in the basics of mixing cement, brick-laying, levelling and digging trenches. The programme aims to deliver 30,000 houses.
Nene relates how she attended a deeds handover with Executive Mayor Amos Masondo, where she witnessed one such a community builder receive her title deeds, looking the part of homeowner in her resplendent traditional dress. On previous occasions she could be seen in her overalls, hard at work building her own home.
"Those moments make it worth it, give your energy to get up the next day."
Undeterred by the many challenges she faces, Nene relies on her ability to deal with setbacks in a composed and informed manner. She loves reading, "but not for fun, it must add value", she admits.
The time she spent in exile, studying in Moscow with her deaf child her only company and without any support, may have something to do with her determination. Today, she knows that she never wants to be without the one thing that makes a house a home - family.
Image: A pioneering mixed housing development: one of the Cosmo City houses
Article and photograph courtesy of City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za).
Readers' Comments
Have a comment or question about this article? Email us now..
What's your home worth?
Want to know what the average home price is in your area? Visit PropertySPI and get the latest report on transfers and price movements in your street, suburb or sectional title scheme.
Property News
Click here for more property news articles.
Need a blog?
Start your own blog with a free blog from 24.com.
Print
