By the end of the current government’s term of office in 2019, the Department of Human Settlements will have delivered 1.5-million houses, Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu stated on Tuesday.

Delivering her 2014/15 Budget Vote speech in Parliament, Sisulu pointed out that South Africa currently had a housing backlog of 2.3-million families. 

“We believe the building of houses must be a catalyst for skills development and job creation. South Africa is about to become the biggest construction site in Africa and, most probably, in the developing world. We will build close to 270 000 houses yearly as a sector,” Sisulu told the media at a prebudget briefing.

She said while this could seem impossible, the country had managed to do it before.

“At the height of implementing the Breaking New Ground (BNG) policy, we were building over 270 000 a year,” she said.

However, the Minister said after reviewing prior housing delivery, the DHS had come to the conclusion that it had to change its approach.

“We need to move from small projects of 200 houses to megaprojects [involving an] integrated housing mix to cater for different incomes and needs,” Sisulu said.

She stated that to achieve the department’s vision there were certain urgent systemic interventions that had to be implemented. These interventions had been divided into immediate actions that would be taken over the next 100 days, short-term interventions that would take place over the next year and a five-year programme.

As part of the 100-day programme, the DHS would identify 50 national priority projects that would deliver mega integrated and sustainable human settlements. Of these, 30% would be BNG houses, 20% gap houses, 20% rental accommodation, 10% social housing and 20% sites with access to basic services.

Further, to celebrate women’s month, the DHS would be building 1 956 houses in each province between August and December “by women for women”, Sisulu said.

Over the next 100 days, the Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) would also prioritise the issuing of title deeds for houses built pre- and post-1994. The Department of Human Settlements would collaborate with the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform and the Deeds Office by establishing a dedicated unit to fast-track the issuing of title deeds to realise the value of the “dead assets” that were “in the hands of our people”, she added.

The EAAB would also be brought closer to the DHS to help it fulfil its mandate guided by the priorities of government.

Meanwhile, the department would also sign a social contract with the Banking Association of South Africa (BASA) to recommit to the social contract concluded in 2005.

“Their continued support of our programmes is essential, especially as we depend on them in our most urgent and newest project, which is employer-assisted housing,” Sisulu stated.

Further, the department would restructure the Human Settlements entities, such as the Housing Development Agency, that would become a fully-fledged development agency in future.

The DHS would also sign a service-level agreement with the South African State Information Technology Agency with regard to creating a credible housing waiting-list database, which the department aimed to have up and running within the 100-day period.

Sisulu explained that such a database was vital to enable the department to determine how many people were legitimately waiting for a house.

“It is generally known that some of the beneficiaries of the system have sold their houses and continue doing so, and I myself was alarmed, when looking through a housing waiting list, to see how many 18-year olds assume that government owes them a house,” she said, adding that it had to be determined how many of these people formed a part of the 2.3-million backlog.

Moving on to the department’s short-term goals, Sisulu said, over the next 12 months, the housing waiting-list  database would be enhanced in a manner that would enable the tracking of ownership history and align with data in the custody of the Independent Electoral Committee, South African Social Security Agency and Home Affairs.

“We will also track information on who has benefitted, so that government can measure when it has met the needs of the people,” she added.

Over the next year, the DHS would also embark on and lay the basis for a master spatial plan for human settlements to enable the department to direct all the necessary amenities to where human settlements were located as well as to plan ahead for the provision of the necessary infrastructure and amenities.

This master plan would be completed by the end of this government term, the Minister stated.

The DHS would also be reviewing its policies and legislation to ensure that the BNG policy was aligned with the National Development Plan. This process was expected to be completed by March 2015.

Further, to ensure that the five-year target of building 1.5-million houses was met, each province would launch an integrated human settlement Ministerial project that would deliver a minimum of 10 000 houses and 5 000 service stands over five years. This would comprise 20% rental units, 20% gap housing, 30% BNG houses, 10% social housing and 20% serviced sites for employer-assisted housing.