Housing in Southern Africa July 2016

NHFC’s

Money makes the world go round. Pouring over financials, profits, losses and interest rate cycles and working with it to create an effective, sustainable development finance institution,

are things that the National Housing Finance Corporation, Chair, CEO and Board members, do regularly.

Q : Did you work with Eric Molobi before taking over the Chair from the iconic housing innovator? A : Yes I did. We were both appointed in 1996, byMinister Joe Slovo, the first Minister of Housing after 1994. Q : What are the highlights looking back over NHFC’s history? A : The NHFC was the only housing DFI setup on a self-sustaining basis to serve both urban and rural markets on a national basis. The corporation piloted the sec- ondary home loan process to create significant housing opportunities, through Gateway Home Loans, a wholly-owned subsidiary. It pio- neered and stabilised the financing of Social Rental housing, and helped the development of this sector in South Africa. The state-owned entity became the largest inner city affordable rental financier, either directly or through its associate company, the Trust for Urban Housing Finance (TUHF). One notable milestone includes successfully piloting the employee assisted housing scheme in the min- ing sector with Implats. This led to the delivery of 2 000 units through Home Front. Funding for private and social rental housing increased due to partnerships with multilat- eral agencies such as the French development agency (AFD) and the

Michael Katz

T he NHFC is ably chaired by Professor Michael Katz. His extensive experience in corporate and commercial law, takeovers and acquisitions, and empowerment ventures spans over 40 years. He has guided, shaped and con- tributed to the NHFC’s success in order to meet government’s housing needs and the Minister of Human Settlements’ mandate. The NHFC has proved its worth. Each new Minister has endorsed the hierarchy and continued toworkwith those appointed by Joe Slovo, first Minister of Housing in the new de- mocracy and Eric Molobi, the NHFC’s first Chairperson.

Q : As Chairperson of the NHFC what were the challenges in overseeing government’s key development finance institution? A : From day one, I knew that the role of the NHFC as a Development Fi- nance Institution (DFI) would evolve and be reviewed, as it remains an important and relevant vehicle to addressmarket failure in the segment of the market it served (R1 500 to R 15 000). It had to undertake greater risk to nurture and develop the newly targeted housing market. This also had to be done on a self-sustaining basis, and be complementary, that is ‘crowd in the private sector’, rather than being competitive.

8