The potential impact of an inclusionary Housing policy on the affordability housing in South Africa

Abstract

The right to shelter is viewed internationally as a basic human right, and this is supported by the South African constitution through the Bill of Rights. The current state of accessibility to housing in South Africa is, however, being eroded by issues such as the rapidly decreasing ability of a growing section of the population to afford market related housing. There are several policies – the latest of which being the inclusionary housing policy - being instituted by the National Department of Housing that in whole or in part attempt to address this issue of affordability. The success of these housing policies in addressing this issue has not yet been fully determined. The aim of this research was to take a specific housing policy – the framework for inclusionary housing - and determine its impact on the affordability of housing and from this, and outline potential implementation hurdles that should be addressed in order for the policy to be effective. Due to the lack of research in this area from a South African perspective, this was an exploratory study which used semi-structured interviews of housing industry experts as a means of gaining insight. The research ascertained that an inclusionary housing policy will have a very limited impact on the affordability of housing in South Africa, but the social benefits that it will bring to the country in terms of integration will far outweigh this. The research further determined that there are serious problems in the execution and implementation of housing delivery in South Africa which are directly related to the cost of land, the current government subsidy schemes, the township establishment process and the capacity of local government.