The current backlog in housing currently stands at “just above 2,4-million” units, the Department of Housing’s Director-General Itumeleng Kotsoane said in Parliament on Thursday, adding that the task facing his department was “rather huge.”
Government has since 1994 made a R36-billion investment into low-cost housing and from just the past few years, has been building an average of about R250 000 units a year.
Kotsoane was addressing the media in Parliament on the department's programme of action and new policy developments. He added they were looking forward to an increased housing budget for the coming financial years.
On Tuesday, the Finance Minister said that the aggregate amount being spent on housing by government was growing “in leaps and bounds”, but called for “more discussion” on housing delivery, saying there was some confusion over figures in terms of quantifying completed housing units, those under construction and those with defects rendering them uninhabitable.
On Thursday Kotsoane said that the total number of housing units completed or currently under construction by government since the advent of democracy in 1994 amounted to 2 081 694.
He added that there has been consistent growth of housing delivery since the 2003/04 financial year, when 193 615 houses were completed or under construction. This grew to 217 348 housing units completed or under construction in the 2004/05 financial year, he said.
In the past financial year – 2005/06 – a combination of 115 175 sites that were in the process of development and 137 659 units that were completed, brought the total to 252 834 houses.
Less than two weeks ago, Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said that, at current rates of urban migration, projections were that informal settlements would grow by four percent a year, adding that “we have for the first time in 12 years reached the production figure of 253 000 houses per annum”.
The Minister said then that an ideal amount for housing would amount to about five percent of national budgets, saying that another challenge facing South Africa was the increasing price of cement, which has shot up in line with demand, doubling in price over the past seven years.
Last year, she said, building costs had accelerated by 17,5%.
“For us this is a very worrying trend that is bound to have major implications on our ability to roll out low-cost housing and thereby create sustainable communities.”
South Africa's big banks, which have traditionally been reluctant to enter the low-cost housing market because of the perceived risk to their investments, have now been increasingly drawn into the housing delivery equation, earmarking R42-billion in low-cost housing loans.
So far, the banks are reported to have spent R16,7-billion out of this on low-cost housing.
The degree to which these loans have been given to the actual target market of those earning between R1 500 a month and R7 500 a month has been questioned by some officials.
Kotsoane said that “it is clear that government alone cannot successfully address the housing challenge”, adding that partnerships were a key issue, implemented through a “social contract” between government and stakeholders.
He added that while state-owned land would increasingly be used for low-cost housing, the availability of land for housing remained “a critical challenge.” – BuaNews
EMAIL THIS ARTICLE SAVE THIS ARTICLE FEEDBACK
To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
