Housing under the spotlight

Nedlac's Development Chamber has taken a step forward in assisting the process of delivering low-cost housing to needy South Africans.

A special focus session in July last year identified several areas for investigation, and these were subsequently refined and focused during discussions in the Management Committee and Executive Council.

The task team set up by the chamber to steer the chamber's work on the issue has agreed the terms of reference for Nedlac's work on housing delivery.

The four chamber convenors discussed these terms of reference with the Minister of Housing at a recent meeting. The seven focus areas identified in the terms of reference are:

• The targets of unit output. This refers to the number of completed housing units out of the overall target of the Department of Housing.
• The time-table for delivery. This refers to the period within which the target is to be achieved.
• The financing mechanism. This will explore the use of public-sector funds as well as private-sector resources which may be mobilised from financial institutions, and the use of prescribed asset requirements. In addition, it refers to the resources which can be mobilised by organised labour.
• Social housing. This refers to the targets of public housing rental stock and the general increase in rental stock.
• Housing parastatal. This refers to a specific delivery institution to be set up in order to ensure the rapid meeting of the agreed delivery targets.
• Information base. This refers to the setting up of a database which could be used by all stakeholders, and which would contain accurate and reliable information on the extent of the housing programme.
• Quality of housing. This refers to matters such as the quality of houses, their location and size.

During her presentation to a special session of the August 29 Executive Council meeting, Minister of Housing Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele expressed enthusiasm for working with the Nedlac social partners in order to improve access to housing for all South Africans. "The [Nedlac] team has shown a hand of partnership, and I really appreciate the spirit in which they have come to these discussions," she said.

The minister explained to the Executive Council how her department's housing policy works. She also discussed a number of areas where the social partners can help to solve problems and overcome constraints.

Government has set up mechanisms to help it deliver housing, namely, the Mortgage Indemnity Fund, which has to date unlocked 104 000 loans worth R7 billion; the National Urban Reconstruction and Housing Agency, to help finance emerging contractors; and the National Housing Finance Corporation.

Information was provided to the Executive Council which showed that at the end of June 1997, a total of 248 100 houses had been constructed or were under construction under the subsidy scheme. This is defined as units on which at least one payment had been made. In most of these cases, contractors are already on site (see table below).

An additional 346 705 subsides have been approved by provincial housing boards, but are not yet under construction. This brings the total number of subsidies approved to 594 805. These figures exclude subsidies paid out for the purchase of existing houses.

The Development Chamber will table a progress report on its work on the housing issue to the November Executive Council meeting.

Houses built or under construction: March 1994 to end-June 1997