Housing in Southern Africa July 2016

Social Housing Mar ket – steadily improving the quality of life

Over thepast 20 years, theNational Housing FinanceCorporationhas been steadily improving the quality of life of many South Africans by putting social housing on the map.

N HFC Executive Manager: Corporate Support Services, Siegfried Mogane, has the depth of experience and the rich- ness of understanding to navigate the intricacies of what is required to establish social housing in South Africa. His background with banking giant Absa’s predecessor, the United Building Society, and exposure to how social housing is funded and managed in the UK and Netherlands, and his time spent with social hous- ing institutions like Broomleigh (UK) and Vestia in the Netherlands have prepared him to assist the NHFC to identify key ingredients in establish- ing training and management in social housing organisations. In 1996, the NHFC was instrumen- tal in establishing the Social Housing Foundation (SHF), previously the Housing Institutions Development Fund. The Foundationwas created for the sole purpose of providing social housing institutions with manage- ment, training and tenant educa- tion, to capacitate the sector. Social housing institutions had to build a solid business case before receiving

a donation of land from provincial or local authorities, or apply for an institutional subsidy of R16 800 per unit (or R18 4000 dependent on site soil conditions). Social housing de- livered affordable rental housing to low income earners in the R1 500 to R3 500 per month category. The Housing Institutions Develop- ments Fund (HIDF) had been estab- lished to finance and support social housing institutions. State subsidies assisted the organisations to build housing stock that was not for im- mediate ownership. The subsidy indirectly benefitted beneficiaries, as it was provided to assist institutions in making rentals affordable to the target market. The first social housing insti- tution to be financed was the Abahlali Housing Association in Port Elizabeth, which was approxi- mately 250 units. The Greater Germi- ston Inner City Housing Corpora- tion, now the Ekurhuleni Hous- ing Development, started with 300 units. The Johannesburg Housing Company rolled out approximately 700 units during 1999, and 2000.

The Tsutsumani Athlete's Village in Alexandra Johan- nesburg, built by Semag , accom- modated athletes competing in the All Africa Games in 1998. Instead of paying for hotel ac- commodation for participants, a 1 600 unit village was built to host the athletes. The pro j ec t was funded by the NHFC and government grants, including in- stitutional subsidies. After the games, the units were

t h e n a l l o - cated to low- cost housing beneficiaries with some of the units being set aside for rental. Over the years, theHIDF continued to provide funding and, at the time

Siegfried Mogane

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