Appraising the effectiveness of South Africa’s low-cost housing delivery approach for beneficiaries in uMhlathuze village and Slovos settlement

Abstract

The question of basic housing for the poor majority of the world’s population remains a festering global development challenge given the plethora of housing delivery models which abound. In South Africa, the Capital Housing Subsidy Scheme and the Comprehensive Plan for Development of Sustainable Human Settlements are the dominant policy models that the post-apartheid government has used to deliver low-cost housing for poor South Africans. In spite of significant strides made by the South African government in providing humanitarian housing to the poor indigenes of South Africa, there is not much in the literature that looks at the effectiveness of the low-cost housing delivery approach used to provide housing to beneficiaries who have been living in these subsidized housing units. As a contribution to filling this gap, this paper assesses the effectiveness of the existing housing delivery approach using human settlements developed in selected municipalities — uThungulu District Municipality, in KwaZulu-Natal. The findings show that while beneficiaries appreciate having shelter and being afforded housing ownership rights by the government, they are equally concerned about the quality and sustainability of structures provided. They contend that the houses delivered have failed to meet their needs and expectations mainly because they were excluded from the planning and implementation of housing delivery.