Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa September 2013 | Page 31

RESIDENTIAL
Developpement (AFD), brought together
the social housing and the green networks
in a workshop that could define the research
questions and outline the possible mechanisms
to make ‘greening’ of the sector more successful.
The workshop identified a number of issues
including the tension between capital cost
and returns; the impact of energy cost savings
on affordabilit y of targeted tenants; the
understanding of what capital products have the
best effect within the tight frame of financing;
lack of established financing mechanisms; and
forms and effectiveness of tenant engagement
in understanding consumption issues but also in
income generating green activities.
In pa ra l lel to t he work shop was t he
development of the ‘Green Guide for Social
Housing institutions’. It recognises that the
organisational base of the Social Housing
Institutions provides the best point to respond
to the challenges. The Guide notes the lack of
properly researched and understood dynamics
of ‘greening’ particularly in the residential sector
and more so in the residential space occupied by
social housing. In focusing the thinking of Social
Housing institutions it posses the question:
“SHIs need to be clear on what they want
out of greening. Is the aim simply to comply
with regulations at the lowest possible cost, is
it to replace a few energy inefficient fittings in
the hope of bringing down the electricity bill,
or is it to go all the way in weaning ourselves
from grid dependency and become totally self
sufficient in meeting our energy needs? Is it only
about energy?”
It uses a non-prescriptive approach in
considering a full spectrum of possibilities
that go far beyond merely ‘energy’. Building
around the sustainability of the Social Housing
Institutions, and the stock they manage, it
knocks the capital options against the reality
of what is affordable within the total building
lifecycle. It highlights the centrality of the SHI
in the defining and driving of viable greening
approaches and the essential part that tenants
have to play in making the savings and making
the green innovations work.
It does not neglect the engagement of these
tenants in the income and livelihood activities
around recycling and food production that
can also improve affordability. In doing so, the
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Guide is reflecting the growing importance of
the SHIs’ community development initiatives,
like that of the Johannesburg Housing
Company linked community development
arm ’Makhulong A Matala’ which ‘…runs
interesting programmes involving residents in
food gardening and waste management in the
Johannesburg inner City’.
A key theme that threads through the Guide is
how little we know about the real dynamics and
impact ‘greening’ can have in the sector. Through
recent networking between the social housing
and the greening sectors a project has emerged
intended to give more practical answers on
these dynamics and impacts. The ‘Green Social
Housing Building Project’ is a joint initiative
of NASHO and the WWF – SA and financed
by the Social Housing Regulatory Authority
(SHRA) and the Nedbank Green Trust.
Its intent is to help fill the information gaps and
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