Excutive director of housing, Uhuru Nene, explains the department's vision (Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)

RELATED LINKS: Housing plan looks at homeless blues THE City of Johannesburg has a strategy in place to deal with its housing problem. The Housing Master Plan hopes to house the homeless by 2009. Read more Housing THE housing department in the City of Johannesburg is responsible for initiating housing programmes that create a habitable environment with adequate infrastructure, economic opportunities and services. Read more Big plans being laid to house the poor THERE are several initiatives under way across all spheres of government to build adequate housing for people living in informal settlements and backyard shacks, by 2009. Read more Inner city regeneration overview for 2005 MUCH investment has been made in the inner city, and much work has been done. There is still much to be done, however, before 2010. Read more Housing delivery THE housing department intervenes to ensure that delivery of housing actually happens. This often means working directly with clients to assist them with housing issues. Read more Road show takes housing to Jozi's people EXECUTIVE Mayor Amos Masondo has handed title deeds to people who have occupied council housing for decades and launched the multimillion-rand City Deep redevelopment project to convert hostels to family dwellings. Read more Turning Alex's hostels into homes THE cinderblock buildings stand in the middle of Alexandra township, historical symbols of segregation from an apartheid past. Read more

Vinod Singh of Joburg's Corporate Planning Unit discusses the City's housing development strategy

Housing delivery comes under the spotlight Delivery of housing is a City priority, and a stakeholders workshop discussed the challenges Joburg faces in meeting its targets. May 3, 2006 By Shamin Chibba JOZI'S housing department has a vision – to provide "adequate housing for all, which is a place to stay and a place to grow". And, according to the executive director of housing, Uhuru Nene, realising this vision depends on the pace of housing delivery. Part of the vision is to eradicate poverty and turn informal settlements into formal ones. "The way we create wealth is through property. The government wants to help people move out of poverty," Nene said. She was speaking at the Housing Stakeholders Workshop, attended by the mayoral committee member for housing, Strike Ralegoma, and a number of community leaders and stakeholders on Tuesday, 2 May to discuss housing developments in Joburg. The workshop heard that one of the City's six Development Paradigms was for the housing programme to target the poor and make them citizens of the city through settlement formalisation and service delivery. Part of the paradigm was sharing the city's growth among all its citizens. The department also wanted to breach the gaps in the housing ladder to provide opportunities for social mobility. This would enable people to improve their living standards easily, instead of struggling to buy the homes they wanted. Restructuring settlements was another priority for the housing department, as it looked to build houses closer to people's workplaces and public facilities. This would help to improve economic growth in those communities, the workshop was told. It also focused on achieving sustainability and environmental justice through innovative housing technologies. The department stressed the importance of partnerships with other government – national and provincial – and non-government groups, within the paradigm, as a step towards ensuring housing delivery demands were met. One of the department's objectives was to implement a programme to improve the quality and affordability of hostels and backyard accommodation, the workshop was told. Issues under the spotlight included how to deal with housing for people with special needs, including homes for senior citizens, people infected with HIV/Aids and homeless children, and overcrowded hostels, where in many cases whole families live in a single room. The housing backlog and speed of delivery were also discussed. Although the City aimed to build 100 000 houses within the next five years, a major challenge to overcome was financial. The council had also noticed the low rentals charged for City flats and planned to increase the rates, the workshop heard. Some rooms were rented for as little as R150 a month, and the City was unable to maintain these buildings because of the low income from rentals. The City will hold a Summit for Growth and Development on 12 May at Nasrec Centre to gather government, business, labour and community leaders to prepare a Growth and Development Strategy. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za