Housing in Southern Africa May 2016

Housing

OPPORTUNITIES

dependent on government. All new development projects should encom- pass some element of sustainability and create financial streams for ben- eficiaries. Most housing beneficiaries are apprehensive about using their newasset to access finance and grow their wealth base. In the past, Absa’s housing gurus, Dr Gert Dry and Joe Kondos, had a number of ideas on how fully subsi- dised units could be developed. The Basil Read innovationwas first moot- ed over eight years ago by Kondos. He suggested double storey units that would provide the beneficiary with a house on the lower level and tenants living in the self-contained upper level. This would provide ben- eficiarieswith an extra income aswell as relieve the demand for housing. The 4,3 million housing oppor- tunities’ campaign, which has pro- vided homes for over 20 million people, includes 2,8million RDP fully subsidised units; 986 000 serviced sites; 360 000 Enhanced Extended Discount Benefit Scheme units, 68 640 Community Residential Units, 121 000 social housing units and 6 000 Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme homes. ■

Human Settlments, Paul Mashatile, the Basil Read team, her advisors, the newly appointed head of the Social Housing Regulatory Authority, Rory Gallocher, Chairman of the National Home Builders Registration Council, Abbey Chikane, First National Bank’s developer finance and building loans specialist, Marinda Barnard and her counterpart on end user finance, Francois Strydom, the formidable Calgro team, Ben Pierre Malherbe and Derek Steyn, as well as provincial stakeholders. The Basil Read team hosted the Minister and was keen to show her all the work that has been achieved in order to provide sustainable, fully subsidised housing at Malibongwe Ridge and Cosmo City. The innovative residential units at Malibongwe Ridge all have additional units/rooms and facilities. This provides beneficiaries with an additional source of income, as these rooms can be rented to Zan- dspruit informal settlement dwellers. Originally the fully subsidised units were developed to house all the Zandspruit residents. But those who do not qualify for free subsidised housing still have the opportunity to live in decent, affordable hous- ing. This is one of the most exciting housing developments; it provides low income earners with not only a free house, but the additional income makes them less financially

when the clouds of economic gloom hover above our heads with remark- able obstinacy. It is perhaps fitting that we remind ourselves of themany wonderful things currently taking place in our beautiful country.” Cosmo City was chosen to launch the celebration campaign as it is the most advanced of the department’s projects and has all the inclusive housing elements. “Cosmo City is representative of what human settlements should be,” said Sisulu. Cosmo City is one of the initiatives that the Department of Human Settlements has undertaken since 2004. Other key projects include the N2 Gateway housing project in Cape Town and Cornubia in Durban. The campaign celebrates an achievement which has seen more than 20 million people benefitting fromgovernment housing. The recent launch held at the Cosmo City Multi- purpose Complex coincided with the 10 th anniversary of the development. Cosmo City has 12 500 residential units including fully bonded, par- tially and fully subsidised units and social housing and is home to 70 000 people. A decade down the line, the community of Cosmo City has its own schools, clinic, shoppingmall, library and a fire station currently under construction and due for comple- tion later this year. The Minister’s entourage included Gauteng MEC of

May 2016