Let’s put the SA housing delivery model on skates!

13 September 2022

The main competitive advantage is speed, says entrepreneur Caspian Woods.

Speed is about seizing the momentum of a beta world in perpetual motion, adds Ajaz Ahmed (AKQA) and Stefan Olander (Nike).

People who search for better lives everywhere move to places they perceive to be significantly better than the places they come from. The influx of people in need of housing and a better life generally flow to the Western Cape and this must surely indicate that at grass roots level, where needs are most pressing, the Western Cape offers hope. A stronger endorsement is hardly possible.

The Western Cape offers more hope than any other province, yet it is futile to note the better delivery in the Western Cape, because everybody, friend and foe, supporter and opposition, have come to expect that DA governments provide more hope.

The Western Cape has an increasing housing need of some 600 000 – there are 560 000 listed on the Western Cape Housing Demand Database. Any politician, and every politician who tell you that this backlog will be cleared in the current economic and budget circumstances, is lying to you. We cannot, nobody can clear this backlog in the current circumstances. Perhaps someone with R100-billion, to start, can promise to solve this crisis quickly. I cannot. I will not make such irresponsible claims.

I have no new! amazing! plans and procedures to offer. The various programs in the model is fine. It works when implemented correctly and properly. It has national buy-in and can deliver if driven by good governance and multi-sectoral partnerships. My radical contribution is speed! I offer a radically accelerated roll-out. I agree with British entrepreneur James Watt, of Brewdog, “Implement informed decisions faster than a jackrabbit on speed. Speed is a game changer. Being able to move at high velocity is essential. Whilst others are deliberating, you’re out of the blocks, accelerating at light speed. Speed is the key: it is one of your greatest weapons in your arsenal to change the world.”

I offer delivery already in the making, and not delivery promised. I will not disrupt, but I will infuse with energy the policies and procedures in place to provide housing solutions. I will do what is to be done, with what is available. But I’ll do it better. And I’ll do it faster.

We, in the Western Cape, my department and its excellent and motivated team do everything we can to provide relief on every level of need. But we are not yet justified in proclaiming victory, as then US President George W Bush did aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, on May 1, 2003, “In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed…” complete with a banner reading “Mission Accomplished” in the background.

I am reporting on the ongoing war against homelessness and inadequate shelter. I am nowhere near a smiling face announcing breakthroughs. I am, however, already way beyond announcing new, radical initiatives and plans – yes, plans! – to fight the war. I am already battle-hardened. I know the size and the might of the threat. And I am already delivering small battlefield advances in the ultimate defeat of the threat.

For those desperate and needy people in our province, who live in almost squalid conditions in shacks of planks and rusted corrugated sheets and cardboard, mostly discarded ANC election posters, we provide serviced plots – water, electricity, sewerage. No place you or I would want to construct a shack, no place you or I would live, but relief for those living without water and electricity and sewerage. For providing such soonest relief, in exigent circumstances, the DA, the province, the department, are often calumniated. Why? And how is such criticism valid? Such relief is not intended to be permanent solutions. Such relief is intended, and is in fact immediate relief in desperate circumstances.

We provide houses. Several kinds. Several plans. Several options. During the 2022/23 financial year, 11 210 housing opportunities will be delivered. This will consist of 2 747 sites and 8 463 top structures. This is an undertaking that can be trusted. These numbers are grounded in research and planning and budgeting and negotiation and partnerships. I am privileged to sign off on plans, to turn sods, to inspect progress, to monitor execution, to cut ribbons, and to hand over housing solutions to grateful, deserving, people every day. Housing. It’s what I do.

When it comes to housing, and housing on my watch, housing is about a better life and a better quality of life by providing adequate shelter through a partnership and a brotherhood with the people most in need.

I want to be that solution provider first and foremost.

My department, and the Western Cape government have a clear and growing grasp of the enormity of the housing problem in our province among the most vulnerable people of our province. We certainly continuously feel that we are held back and constrained by so very many factors outside of our immediate control, but because we are committed to rise above politics and policies and procedures, we will not be forced off the road to a better life for all in the Western Cape. We will move to control more and more variables and constraints in our efforts to provide safety and dignity for all our people.

The Better Living Challenge

The Western Cape Government’s Better Living Challenge has attracted significant criticism. Criticism is an opportunity to reflect and to explore avenues of improved opportunity to reach goals quicker. Nothing that can be said will provide shelter, and then informal housing, and then improved informal housing, and then a permanent dwelling with an address to give all the people of the Western Cape the dignity they deserve.

I have a predetermined budget and that is fixed. I can get no more money than what I am given. This means that I have to stretch banknotes because I have only so many banknotes. This is a fact. My job is to build the number of houses I can afford to build.

My job is to make more comfortable as many households as I can afford, while the backlog is reduced by new houses, and increased by new requests.

Of every R100 I have, R91 goes to creating housing opportunities. R6 is for managing the business of building. R2 is for managing the completed houses. R1 is for research and planning to build houses.

While the maximum possible number of houses are built, I have to make plans, and fund the plans, to improve the quality of housing for as many people as I can afford to help. To do this I cannot take money from the R91 used to build houses. I have to take money from the other R8. And I have to ask companies to help me. And, luckily, some companies do help. I pay a number of staff out of the R8 I have for managing and planning and there are about 30 partners who contribute material and other things to make more livable the structures of those people who can not yet get a house.

The choice in a desperate situation is simple: I can sit back and have the greatest number of houses build every year, or I can find ways and means to make the people on the waiting list for a house, more comfortable, and safer.

It’s a no brainer, really. I trust and I hope that you will agree with this decision to do something rather than to not do something. And this is where the Better Living Challenge comes in.

I am trying to motivate desperate people to take my hand and accept help from my people and from other benefactors – sponsors, good people who give us things for free – to make improvements to their inadequate shelters.

The Better Living Challenge does NOT replace the right to a house; does not delay the delivery of houses;

does not take money away from the building of houses; does not take away someone’s place on the waiting list; The Better Living Challenge is an attempt to be more comfortable, and safer, while you wait for your house. If this is not a good idea, I’d like to hear why not.

I want to use the Better Living Challenge for more than merely more comfortable and safer living. I want the Better Living Challenge to motivate desperate people to do something that will improve their living standard – even if the improvement is merely from very bad to bad, or from bad to slightly better. I want the people who are waiting for houses to know that there is a hand they can take to help them do something to help themselves with the help of people and organisations that have more resources, and money to assist. If this is not a good idea, I’d like to hear why not.

I will listen to all criticism, to all who tell me that this might not be a good idea. And we’ll decide together what to do.

My department, and the Western Cape government, have a clear and growing grasp of the enormity of the housing problem in our province among the most vulnerable people of our province. We certainly continuously feel that we are held back and constrained by so very many factors outside of our immediate control, but because we are committed to rise above politics and policies and procedures, we will not be forced off the road to a better life for all in the Western Cape. We will move to control more and more variables and constraints in our efforts to provide safety and dignity for all our people.

INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS

Since 2016, Western Cape households have enjoyed the highest rate of access to services compared to the national average. The province currently has 958 informal settlements with 527 of those falling within the City of Cape Town region. All of the remaining 431 settlements across the province have been assessed, categorised, ranked, and prioritised per municipality via the Department’s Informal Settlements Database.

We’re particularly focused on incremental housing, and more so for residents in our informal settlements. This places us in a strategic position to eliminate the growing backlog for houses and for basic municipal services. Initially we conceptualised two options, and this has now increased to four options, which is being considered. One particular option that we’re leaning towards, is the provision of a site that has a starter house with a 40 square meter frame structure for future extension. Not discounting any of the others, but at this stage, we’re of the view that this option will make a significant impact in the improvement of the living conditions of those who are residing in informal settlements. The starter house consists of:

- A total area of 20 sqm under roof and enclosure.

- Bathroom enclosed with toilet and concrete floor –space for a shower.

- Wash through for multi-purpose use with concrete floor.

- Hard standing floor finish on balance of 40 sqm.

- Ready Board only.

Upgrading of Informal Settlements

The Western Cape has active policies – Enhanced Serviced Sites; Incremental Housing Approach, and

Reblocking of Informal Settlements – to improve housing as permanent solutions are developed and delivered.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

The reality in the Western Cape is that there are currently, approximately 560 000 residents on the Western Cape Housing Demand Database … many of these residents would not qualify for a fully State subsidised housing opportunity, as their household income would likely exceed the R 3 500 threshold.

State assistance is however still required as many of these residents have a household income that ranges between R 3 501 – R 22 000. This is where affordable housing is of paramount importance. To address this unique challenge, we focus on two programs, namely Help Me Buy A Home (formerly called FLISP – Financed Linked Individual Subsidy Program) and Social Housing.

Social Housing

the qualification criteria for household income have been amended from R1500 – R15 000 to R1850 – R22 000 gross monthly income. This will, amongst others, enable particularly young graduates and young couples who could not previously access housing opportunities, due to earning higher than the previously prescribed household income band, to access these opportunities.

Help Me Buy A Home

There has been a huge demand for this solution in the Western Cape. In fact, 3 695 applications have been approved by my department, since April 2020 to date. This was against a target of 1 800 between the 2020/21 and 2021/22 financial years. For the 2022/23 financial year we aim to assist 1 478 people.

It is for this reason that we welcome the policy amendments to the Financed Linked Individual Subsidy Program (FLISP), that has now been delinked. This means that it is no longer just a mortgage only option, but other sources of finance may be utilised to acquire a property, and applicants with a household income of between R 3 501 – R 22 000 can access FLISP or as it’s now called, ‘Help me buy a Home.’

Individual Subsidy

In the Western cape the Individual Subsidy applications opened on 1 April. This subsidy is aimed at residents with a household income of between R0 and R3 500 and allows one to: buy an existing house; buy a house on a plot-and-plan basis, or to finish an incomplete house. The subsidy amount is just over R200 000 and is paid directly to a seller, conveyancer, financier or contractor, depending on the case.

Deferred Ownership

A pilot project in the non-Metro Cape Agulhas Municipal Area have been completed, and construction is due to commence imminently. I have, on 13 September, officially opened the first Deferred Ownership show house in Bredasdorp. For those that might not be familiar with this project, this innovative initiative seeks to provide not only FLISP units to qualifying beneficiaries but also to provide an opportunity for those beneficiaries who have fallen short of end user finance approval.

These beneficiaries will be provided an opportunity to take out an option for purchasing a house. Furthermore, the initiative will assist them to improve and rehabilitate their credit score and affordability rating, and this acquired proven payment track record will enable them to obtain end user finance to purchase the property which they have been renting.

OWNERSHIP

Ownership is true empowerment and if there’s one opportunity I refuse to miss, then it’s the opportunity to assist our residents in becoming fully-fledged and legal owners of their properties. This is a privilege that many of our people never had in their lives.

Despite the National Government stopping the Title Deed Restoration Grant, we will continue to hand over title deeds. In fact, we’ll place this powerful document in the hands of 10 150 qualifying beneficiaries during the new financial year.

TECHNOLOGY

The Western Cape has launched our housing app in March 2020 already. This app ensures that our citizens can easily access information on government housing assistance, and register for the first time, or update their details on the Housing Demand Database (HDD).

With our continued commitment to incorporate technology, we’re in the process of developing a mobile reporting app to enhance the reporting process that enables officials to report in real-time from the field; to digitise contract management documents on the MyContent system to allow for easy retrieval of documents such as agreements; to improve the Western Cape Housing Demand Database to enable municipalities to effectively manage the registration of housing demand by citizens, and to enhance the executive dashboard that reports on projects.

In the 2022/23 financial year, the focus will be on enhancing the interaction with citizens through digitising our Subsidy Application process with the focus on FLISP subsidies and the transfer of title deeds, as well as developing a Citizen Complaints System.

CONCLUSION

Housing is an enormous challenge. Like eating the proverbial elephant, the Western Cape will meet the challenge of housing bit by considered bit, and will provide equal opportunity for all who qualify for a house, and for all who wish to contribute to enabling housing solutions.

By Tertuis Simmers, DA Provincial Leader of the Western Cape