COVER STORY
Housing delivery challenge
ALL IMAGES BY SAARDA
SAARDA has aligned its focus to work with and engage with government to deliver houses .
By Michael Hartman , Chairman , SA Affordable Housing Developer ’ s Association ( SAARDA )
The national lockdown due to Covid-19 had a severe impact on people ’ s lives and in particular their housing needs .
Every family either adjusted , contemplated , or
appreciated their homes during the first couple of weeks during hard lockdown in April . The desperate need for affordable housing was highlighted with a multitude of families left destitute and in desperate circumstances . Government also realised that something had to be done about the situation . There is a lot of talking now to change the situation and address the housing issue as matter of urgency . The reality is that it will be difficult for government to deliver quickly and will likely fall even further behind if some things do not change and change quickly .
SLOW RATE OF DEVELOPMENT
There is an enormous shortage of approved and developable land now . This is a result of pre-Covid reluctance and resistance of government departments and organisations to drive the approval process of land for development .
At SAARDA we believe that development is one of the driving forces of the economy and ultimately the delivery of affordable homes creates a socially healthy and sustainable society . It is as if the local municipalities do not realise that housing development creates infrastructure delivery , employment , economic investment , buying power and consumers that make a town or city sustainable . The population growth alone will always result in a demand for housing and in South Africa we are struggling with an immense backlog that requires action and delivery .
Local municipalities are a major stumbling block in the delivery of housing , and it is not uncommon that a new development application can take three to five years , and even up to 10 years in some provinces , for approval . Across the spectrum of government departments ’ approval processes there are a magnitude of delays and backlogs , such as the Department of Mineral Rights ( two years ), the Surveyor General ( three months ).
www . saaffordablehousing . co . za NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2020 9