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HFC Executive Manager:
Corporate Support Services,
Siegfried Mogane, has the
depth of experience and the rich-
ness of understanding to navigate
the intricacies of what is required
to establish social housing in South
Africa. His background with banking
giant Absa’s predecessor, the United
Building Society, and exposure to
how social housing is funded and
managed in the UK and Netherlands,
and his time spent with social hous-
ing institutions like Broomleigh (UK)
and Vestia in the Netherlands have
prepared him to assist the NHFC to
identify key ingredients in establish-
ing training and management in
social housing organisations.
In 1996, the NHFC was instrumen-
tal in establishing the Social Housing
Foundation (SHF), previously the
Housing Institutions Development
Fund. The Foundationwas created for
the sole purpose of providing social
housing institutions with manage-
ment, training and tenant educa-
tion, to capacitate the sector. Social
housing institutions had to build a
solid business case before receiving
Over thepast 20 years, theNational Housing FinanceCorporationhas been
steadily improving the quality of life of many South Africans by putting
social housing on the map.
a donation of land from provincial
or local authorities, or apply for an
institutional subsidy of R16 800 per
unit (or R18 4000 dependent on site
soil conditions). Social housing de-
livered affordable rental housing to
low income earners in the R1 500 to
R3 500 per month category.
The Housing Institutions Develop-
ments Fund (HIDF) had been estab-
lished to finance and support social
housing institutions. State subsidies
assisted the organisations to build
housing stock that was not for im-
mediate ownership. The subsidy
indirectly benefitted beneficiaries, as
it was provided to assist institutions
in making rentals affordable to the
target market.
The first social housing insti-
tution to be financed was the
Abahlali Housing Association in
Port Elizabeth, which was approxi-
mately 250 units. The Greater Germi-
ston Inner City Housing Corpora-
tion, now the Ekurhuleni Hous-
ing Development, started with 300
units. The Johannesburg Housing
Company rolled out approximately
700 units during 1999, and 2000.
The Tsutsumani
Athlete's Village in
Alexandra Johan-
nesburg, built by
Semag , accom-
modated athletes
competing in the
All Africa Games
in 1998. Instead of
paying for hotel ac-
commodation for
participants, a 1 600
unit village was built
to host the athletes.
The pro j ec t was
funded by the NHFC
and government
grants, including in-
stitutional subsidies.
After the games,
the units were
t h e n a l l o -
cated to low-
cost housing
beneficiaries with some of the units
being set aside for rental.
Over the years, theHIDF continued
to provide funding and, at the time
Social Housing Mar
ket
– steadily improving
the quality of life
Continued
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Siegfried Mogane
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