UCLG Position Paper v_2 (eng)
22/12/09
18:13
PĂĄgina 47
A Compilation of Case Studies
7 Alignment in strategies for housing development in South Africa
improvement and for regeneration of inner city areas. The housing stock is principally made up of converted flats and in-fill developments. The concept of rental or social housing is very new to South Africa. Renting is not common and the experiences with rental housing are mostly negative. The willingness to pay rent is very low. In this challenging context eight local governments in South Africa worked together with their counterpart local governments in the Netherlands to make this concept work in practice. At the national level the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) works together with VNG International, the international cooperation agency of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG).
Prepared by VNG International, the International Cooperation Agency of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG), September 2009
This case study illustrates how the VNG International programme LOGO South has served to align local level development programming related to housing with national housing development strategies in South Africa. As part of the housing development strategy of the South African government, social housing was one of the areas that needed attention. Social housing is a new concept in the South African context, but far from new in the Netherlands. It is a form of rental housing in which the owner of the houses is a not for profit organization. Through VNG’s LOGO South Programme, eight different city twinnings are addressing the issue of social housing in projects that started in 2005/2006 and will end by 2011. As a first step, the projects aim to elaborate a draft of local housing strategies and policies. Support is also given to Social Housing Institutions that play a pivotal role in the South African social housing strategy. Since the projects started, new legislation has been drafted and adopted, local housing policies have been adopted by local councils and practical implementation will take place in the coming years.
A very practical toolkit on Social Housing Policy was developed by SALGA with assistance of VNG International. The first edition was presented in 2005 and in 2007 a second edition was required due to the significantly changed policy context. The toolkit provides the local governments in South Africa with a very practical outline on how to set up a local social housing policy, how to make a needs analysis and how to identify the stakeholders. Approach The eight local governments involved in South Africa and the Netherlands made use of the capacity development programme LOGO South. The purpose of this programme is to strengthen not only local governments but also what is called the local government sector that includes local government associations (SALGA), as well as national ministries involved (the National Department of Human Settlements) and other institutions (Social Housing Institutions at the local level and the national body called Social Housing Institution). In the LOGO South programme, capacity development is addressed at three levels (individual, institutional and system level) by determining one main issue that shapes the framework for several city to city cooperations. For South Africa this issue is social or rental housing. The decision to take up this topic was defined in a participative manner by all involved local governments in South Africa and the Netherlands in 2004, including also national based organisations like SALGA. During the implementation, this theme focus allows exchanges of experiences among the stakeholders involved and dissemination of results to others. Several times a year, meetings of the South African local governments are
Issue The housing back log in South Africa is very high and ever increasing. Over ten years the national government targets to build millions of houses in towns and cities. Social housing policy is one of the several strategies that are being developed. The aim is that 10% of the housing market will be covered by social housing. Although home ownership is very common and desired by those who do not own a house, there is a need for rental houses that are affordable. Social Housing institutions rent houses out and take care of the maintenance on a non-profit basis. In urbanized areas in particular there is a need for rental houses to be occupied for some years by renters. The renting of the housing units acts as a tool for local area 47