SA Affordable Housing November - December 2018 // Issue: 73 | Page 23

FEATURES
Oh location, location,
location
What possible solutions are there to this sensitive conundrum given
the various and sometimes major challenges to developments?
By Benjamin Brits
www.SAAffordableHousing.co.za
NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2018
A
re we going to be able to solve our housing backlog
is because of the regular changes that occur in government
and what timeframe are we looking at realistically?
departments. A typical example is that when there is any
The topic of location has been addressed as far back
change in management, the new appointee also brings in
as the 1980s in South Africa, and historically apartheid
their own preferred team to work with and this then extends
spatial planning has been the most common denominator
the timeframe for any progress, as it takes time to settle and
in the results.
get things going again. This is clearly not an efficient process
Today’s South Africa sees us looking at our challenge of
but as soon as we start getting things right these types of
affordable housing in a different light. Not only is the
changes occur’, I was told.
availability of suitably located land a challenge but also the
Statistics show that the amount of available land is also
infrastructure to support the developments.
diminishing at a rapid rate as it falls onto a pool of
As we already know infrastructure progress has basically
competition for various lifestyle developments or needs of
come to a halt over the last year and this has a major impact
communities. In some regions, such as Cape Town, suitable
on developments in terms of services and access. The rate of
land is just not available anymore, further stressing the
people moving to cities to seek opportunities has become a
situation. When land is eventually earmarked for affordable
hot topic over the years, and ways to solve the housing
housing, developers then see existing community resistance,
backlog going forward.
as it potentially devalues their investment and they have to
I myself find it particularly odd that after all of these
engage in community negotiations. Another totally different
years the topic of location has been discussed, that we are
story is if the land has been illegally occupied. Developers
still searching for the right and appropriate model that is
find themselves having to lay out resources and costs to
suitable for South Africa given the seriousness of what we
re-locate illegal occupants, often resulting in stressful and
need to achieve – the delivery of a backlog of houses
sometimes violent interactions. Some metros, such as
exceeding two million. Here we are still fortunate to have
Johannesburg, have embarked on a drive to clean up old
vast amounts of land, albeit not as
close to economic activity as we
would like, but when we compare
to countries like Japan has very
little ‘space’ that still excels at
efficiencies across multiple
industries. We have a world of
resources, but still solutions are not
finding their way to the people of
the country.
So, why are we struggling with
this location beast?
Land re-zoning has been tabled a
lot and specifically it takes a lot of
time. Discussions with some
developers conclude that it has
taken almost two years, for example,
to change the zone from agriculture,
commercial or light industry to
residential. There is speculation
The location of affordable housing developments has been addressed for more
than 20 years already.
around this but officials believe ‘this
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