COVER STORY
Consumer Protection Bill that prohibits any owner from building their own home . Only NHBRC-registered contractors and sub-contractors may build a house , thereby making it illegal for all these new stand owners to build their own homes should the proposed Bill be passed .
Ascot development photo by RENICO Construction
Brentwood in Cosmo City photo by RENICO Construction
This has all resulted in a shortage of developable land that causes the delivery backlog to increase . Government suddenly found itself on the receiving end of this process and they cannot find enough land to deliver the houses being talked about .
SAARDA started to engage with government and received an undertaking form the Premier of Gauteng to address delivery issues and timelines at a SAARDA function where Mr David Makura addressed the SAARDA members .
“ The survey clearly showed that the private sector has an enormous role to play in rebuilding the economy and delivery of housing .”
DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
The Department is now on a drive to resolve the housing crisis by delivering serviced stands to people living in overdensified circumstances where they will be able to build their own homes . They also realised that there is not enough serviced or approved stands available .
The issue with this novel idea is that the same Department of Human Settlements published a new proposed Builders
POST-COVID
The Building and Development industry is one that is really willing to work and deliver in the aftermath of economic recovery . The industry was hard hit by the economic lockdown and the contractors , craftsmen suppliers were unable to earn any income in a no-work-no-pay environment .
When SAARDA campaigned to open the construction industry , we ran a quick survey in May 2020 with 210 respondents , to illustrate the economic effect the lockdown had on the industry . The reactions and the results were astonishing :
• 70 % are emerging and smallcontractors and developers .
• 9 % are large developers .
• A total ofR30-billionworth of sites were under construction at the time of lockdown .
• Nearly30 000 ( thirty thousand )houses / units were under construction at the time of lockdown .
• Approximately 7 500 permanent employees are affected .
• The direct impact of employers in various support industries ( contractors , sub-contractors , engineers , architects , project managers , financial institutions , property agents , attorneys ) is estimated at well over 2 million , just for this survey .
Unfortunately , we are experiencing slower than ever service from the government departments as the economy starts to open again . Many of the vulnerable companies now more than ever need all departments involved in the delivery of housing to act swiftly to build industry momentum .
PRIVATE SECTOR
The survey clearly showed that the private sector has an enormous role to play in rebuilding the economy and delivery of housing . In a recent interaction with Gautrans , it became apparent that more than R25-billion housing projects were held up or delayed due to road infrastructure . In some cases , the developers were prepared to build and pay for the roads if they could only get the approval process going . The department understood the impact and is prioritising the delivery so that the developments can commence .
SAARDA has aligned our focus to work with and engage with government to deliver houses . We are dedicated to find solutions to speed up the approval process . Government showed that they are capable of swift decisions and action during the first weeks of the pandemic . We have been having one-on-one contact with several large developers and players to establish and identify problem areas and we will engage with government at executive level , find solutions and accelerate the affordable housing delivery .
10 NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2020 SAAffordHousing saaffordablehousingmag SA Affordable Housing www . saaffordablehousing . co . za