South Africa would have to build 2,4 million houses - or about 30,000 starter homes a month - if it wanted to complete its low-cost housing programme by the target date of 2014. However, housing officials now admit that this target is unrealistic.
S’bu Gumede, Chairperson of eThekwini Municipality’s housing subcommittee, said on Monday that South Africa was not doing enough to meet its goal of housing the country’s poorer communities by 2014.
He told politicians and officials at a housing subcommittee meeting that the city housing department might need to build twice as many houses every year if it planned to meet its goal in the next seven years.
He said that, nationally, 2,2 million houses had been built over the past 14 years at 200,000 a year, but there was still a backlog of 2,4 million.
‘we will need nationally to double our performance’
“If we have built 2,2 million in 14 years, then we will need another 14 years to build the next 2,4 million houses.
“But our target is only seven years away, so we will need nationally to double our performance to about 400,000 or 500,000 houses a year,” he said.
The council is building 16,000 homes a year but may now be required to build 32,000 houses annually.
eThekwini had set its own housing goal at 2010 but, Gumede said, this also seemed “far-fetched” and it would “require a miracle” to fulfil this target.
Department head Cogie Pather said more money was expected soon from the national housing coffers to accelerate the process. However, the department would also be under pressure to build bigger houses for the poor.
Presently, the municipality builds 30-metre square houses but might have to increase this to between 36-metre square and 40-metre square to meet new national guidelines.
Gumede asked Pather to return to their next meeting with a presentation on the city’s building programme. He also asked Pather to assess whether building 32,000 houses a year would be feasible.
Pather said: “We have not assessed this issue, but one of the challenges is going to be the shortage of cement.”
Before the meeting, The Mercury joined councillors on a tour of the city to inspect some of the newer housing projects and to witness the city’s efforts to transform its worst slums into formal communities.
Councillors inspected some of 1,330 new houses that had been built in Umlazi among the shacks.
The campaign, which began in 2005, aims to replace informal housing with basic starter homes without unduly displacing communities and families.
In previous years, shack-dwellers have complained that although they received new homes they were often far away from their work and schools that they were forced to almost start their lives over again. - The Mercury
S’bu Gumede, Chairperson of eThekwini Municipality’s housing subcommittee, said on Monday that South Africa was not doing enough to meet its goal of housing the country’s poorer communities by 2014.
He told politicians and officials at a housing subcommittee meeting that the city housing department might need to build twice as many houses every year if it planned to meet its goal in the next seven years.
He said that, nationally, 2,2 million houses had been built over the past 14 years at 200,000 a year, but there was still a backlog of 2,4 million.
‘we will need nationally to double our performance’
“If we have built 2,2 million in 14 years, then we will need another 14 years to build the next 2,4 million houses.
“But our target is only seven years away, so we will need nationally to double our performance to about 400,000 or 500,000 houses a year,” he said.
The council is building 16,000 homes a year but may now be required to build 32,000 houses annually.
eThekwini had set its own housing goal at 2010 but, Gumede said, this also seemed “far-fetched” and it would “require a miracle” to fulfil this target.
Department head Cogie Pather said more money was expected soon from the national housing coffers to accelerate the process. However, the department would also be under pressure to build bigger houses for the poor.
Presently, the municipality builds 30-metre square houses but might have to increase this to between 36-metre square and 40-metre square to meet new national guidelines.
Gumede asked Pather to return to their next meeting with a presentation on the city’s building programme. He also asked Pather to assess whether building 32,000 houses a year would be feasible.
Pather said: “We have not assessed this issue, but one of the challenges is going to be the shortage of cement.”
Before the meeting, The Mercury joined councillors on a tour of the city to inspect some of the newer housing projects and to witness the city’s efforts to transform its worst slums into formal communities.
Councillors inspected some of 1,330 new houses that had been built in Umlazi among the shacks.
The campaign, which began in 2005, aims to replace informal housing with basic starter homes without unduly displacing communities and families.
In previous years, shack-dwellers have complained that although they received new homes they were often far away from their work and schools that they were forced to almost start their lives over again. - The Mercury
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