January 6, 2003
By Thomas Thale
A MASSIVE government programme to upgrade hostels, converting some of them into family units, is set to be reconsidered following representation from municipalities in Gauteng.
Launched in 1991, the programme aimed to give hostels a facelift whilst at the same time changing their character by integrating them into local communities and making them more homely. The initiative has turned out to be a lot more costly and disruptive than anticipated.
Hostels are relics of apartheid planning designed as transit camps to accommodate migrant workers presumed by the authorities to be temporary sojourners in the cities. Monstrous they look, with blocks built of grey bricks standing in monotonous rows. Home to the poor with an infirm footing in the urban centres, some of the hostels had over the years been seedbeds of violence, with residents unleashing a reign of terror on neighbouring township communities. Their location on the outskirts of townships further marginalised their inhabitants from surrounding communities.
Still, there was a market for these dwellings as they offered a relatively cheap and affordable form of housing to people who lived in abject poverty.
Some ten years ago, the National Department of Housing unveiled a comprehensive programme to upgrade hostels and integrate inmates into neighbouring communities. The ambitious Public Sector Hostels Re-Development Programme was hailed at the time as a decisive intervention to make hostels more habitable, less congested and more suited for occupation by families.
"The programme set out to change the lifestyle of inmates from a single-sex dormitory type environment to conditions more suited to family life," says Jabu Mtshali, director of the Hostels Re-Development Programme in the Gauteng Department of Housing. The programme was launched with initial funding of R325-million allocated by the National Department of Housing.
The Gauteng Province has now decided to look into the viability and costs of the hostel refurbishment and conversion programme. The programme is also perceived to be in need of clearer definition. "There is talk about demolishing, upgrading and converting hostels. These terms send out mixed messages and lead to different interpretations of policy," Mtshali says.
Late last year, the Gauteng Provincial Department of Housing brought together municipalities from across the province to review progress made in the implementation of the programme over the past decade. Delegates to the workshop learned that the programme has unfolded in ways that could not have been foreseen by the authorities.
In Joburg, there are 12 public hostels located on the outskirts of various townships across the city. An additional 12 staff hostels are home to workers employed by the city and its utilities. To date, according to Sizakele Nkosi, councillor responsible for housing in the city, six public hostels and three staff hostels have been upgraded in the previous and current financial year. Of the 12 public hostels, Jabulani, Nancefield and Mapetla hostels have been refurbished. Work done on these hostels was mainly what Nkosi refers to as "patch and paint" - artificial renovations which have no impact on the character of the hostel. "We must face it, this was basically a waste of money," Nkosi admits frankly. In the current financial year, the city and the province have jointly budgeted about R12-million for the programme.
The city later shifted its efforts towards converting hostels into family units. This shift resulted in the authorities having to fork out, not the R4 000 per bed initially envisaged but R16 000 per unit, with the province paying R4 000 and the council having to fork out a whopping R12 000.
Hostels which have been given a facelift include Meadowlands, Dobsonville, Orlando West and Dube. Coversion has, however, turned out to be a prohibitively costly exercise. Orlando West, for instance, ended up costing a whopping R40 000 per unit to convert - a lot more than the R16 500 allocated for an RDP housing unit. In other parts of the province, Mtshali says, the costs can go up to R60 000. Though successful in the technical sense, these conversions have proved costly and authorities have little to show by way of returns on these investments. The costs were further escalated by the rate of inflation and the drop in the value of the rand. According to Mtshali, subsidy per bed has shot up from the initial R4 000 to R5 075, and a family unit, which was originally budgeted at R16 000, now costs R20 000. These high costs have slowed down the process of developing hostels.
To compound matters, residents at most hostels are not famous for their diligence in paying rent, so the city and the province have not even managed to recoup the money invested in these interventions. As a result, private sector investors have shied away from the programme. The city is now in the process of setting up a team which includes the finance department, housing and planning to determine a reasonable rental for hostels.
Upgrading hostels also implied reducing the number of people sharing the units. This de-densification resulted in many people being displaced. The city has had to find alternative accommodation for those rendered homeless by the process, thus putting a further strain on its already stretched budget. For instance, 153 inmates from Orlando West hostel have been displaced by the development. The upgrading of the Helen Joseph Hostel, which currently houses 2 500 people, will see its capacity reduced to 525, leaving almost 2 000 residents homeless. People displaced by the upgrade programme are classified as special cases by the authorities, meaning that they are given preference when RDP houses become available.
"Special provisions have to be made for people who are suffering from Aids, the aged or those who have stayed in hostels for long. Such special cases have to be confirmed by the housing MEC and by the council," Shimi Maimela, director of housing in the city, explains.
At a sociological level, converting hostels into family units is premised on an assumption that the upgrades will serve as a catalyst for beneficiaries to bring their wives and kids to the city, thus expediting the urbanisation of inmates. The tribal loyalties of some hostel residents have however proved more tenacious.
The development of a hostel is preceded by a social survey profiling the inmates and determining their needs. "We found that some of the hostel residents own houses in the countryside. This made them reluctant to invest in another property in the city," explains Henry Human, former programme manager of hostels in the city.
One way around these exorbitant costs, says Nkosi, is to rebuild the structures from scratch. "It is actually cheaper to demolish old structures and build high density RDP units on those sites. Such a pilot project has already been earmarked for Diepkloof hostel and Alexandra's Madala hostel early this year," Nkosi disclosed.
The Gauteng Housing Department is due to conduct a technical assessment of all hostels in the province to determine their structural integrity. "We need to establish a full database of hostels worth upgrading, and explore alternatives for the rest. Decisions on the fate of hostels will be taken in consultation with hostel residents," Mtshali said.
The idea is to make the upgrades more suited to the needs of the residents. "Now we realise that each hostel has its own permutations. For instance, because of its close proximity to an industrial area, City Deep Hostel is clearly not suited to family units," says Maimela.
Another proposal is to introduce cost recovery rentals at all hostels and to improve on the rent collection mechanism. "We have to come up with innovative ways of collecting rent and making the inmates appreciate the importance of paying up," says Maimela. "The ideal situation would be for us to charge market related rentals, but then indigency comes into play." The high rate of unemployment among hostel residents constitutes a serious obstacle to effective rent collection.
But, according to Nkosi, demand for conversion remains high, with residents of the previously refurbished Nancefield, Jabulani and Mapetla hostels clamouring for family units. Units will ultimately be transferred to owners either through (sectional title) joint ownership or individual title deeds.
These proposals will lay the basis for a more inclusive summit, now on the cards, to review the entire programme.
