The absence of a policy and legislative framework has been identified as a main hindrance in the development of human settlements, the draft white paper on human settlements gazetted by human settlements minister Mmamoloko Kubayi says this week.
The document deals with the problems of subsidised housing, land availability, upgrading of informal settlements, affordable rental housing, financing options and governance arrangements, among other things.
It proposes a consolidated Human Settlements Act to replace the existing Housing Act.
The proposed Act will aim to progressively realise the constitutionally enshrined right to adequate housing.
It will detail the role of municipalities in the provision of housing and provide for the expropriation of privately owned land and buildings where the land is underused and is well located for the development of human settlements.
The proposed legislation will also significantly relax the restriction on the voluntary and involuntary sale of state-subsidised housing.
The aim of the draft white paper is to incrementally realise the right to adequate housing for poor households and low-income to medium-income households.
The document addresses the disparity between the subsidy amount provided by the government housing subsidy scheme and the actual costs of housing.
This it says presents a significant challenge in housing delivery that has resulted in fewer subsidised housing units being delivered.
“Government is committed to allocating adequate funding, streamlining administrative processes and implementing transparent criteria for subsidy allocation,” the draft white paper says.
The government will explore simpler and affordable approaches to provide legal security of tenure, particularly for low-income households in both urban and rural areas.
Efforts to curb unlawful occupation of land will also be undertaken.
The draft white paper reiterates the government’s commitment to developing mechanisms to increase access to affordable well-located land, including through the rapid release of public land and zoning.
Furthermore, the government will continue to explore, when feasible and justifiable, expropriation of land for human settlement development.
The government, it says, will also prioritise the renewal and redevelopment of inner cities and the development of areas in which the vast majority of black South Africans are settled, such as in former townships, informal settlements, inner CBD buildings and backyard shacks.
Also to be explored is the feasibility of extending the mandate of the Housing Development Agency so it can directly support municipalities to develop their land assembly strategies as well as acquiring land and buildings. — BusinessLIVE
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