November 16, 2001
By Thomas Thale
THE Gauteng Department of Housing plans a pilot project to help people from four areas build their own houses - which gives them more choice, and bigger houses than the present RDP scheme.
The Johannesburg City Council's meeting this week was told that four sites have been identified for development: the informal settlements of Diepsloot, near Fourways; Ivory Park next to Midrand; Orange Farm in the far south; and Doornkop near Dobsonville.
The Gauteng MEC for housing, Paul Mashatile, in September announced a policy shift away from a mass provision of standard RDP housing units towards a "People's Housing Process" (PHP) model. In terms of the PHP, individuals are encouraged to help construct their own houses, with a range of choices and financial and technical assistance from the government.
Under the incremental housing programme, "housing support centres and cooperative societies will be developed to assist communities to build their own houses", says Mashatile.
According to Sizakele Nkosi, the councillor for housing in Johannesburg, the RDP has not been completely dropped, but the council wants to cut labour costs by involving beneficiaries in the construction of their houses. "The RDP houses were criticised for being too small. The size of PHP houses will be increased from 30 to 42 square metres," said Nkosi. Although construction work is slower, the PHP project gives beneficiaries more choice and stands to benefit local contractors.
Beneficiaries earning R1 500 per month or less will be subsidized to the tune of R8 500. They will also be given an additional R570 'establishment grant' to enable them to kickstart their projects. An extra R1 275 will be granted for 'geotechnical' assistance. The previous RDP housing subsidy was R15 000.
Each of the areas will initially be allotted 250 subsidies by the Province. Similar PHP projects have been successfully implemented in the Eastern Cape towns of Uitenhage and East London.
Meanwhile, the Metro Council this week approved funding for the development of the Zandspruit area. Zandspruit was established in 1994 as a transit camp to house homeless people, but has since been serviced and upgraded into a permanent residential area.
At its meeting this week, the council also approved the resettlement of Naledi camp residents in Emdeni to Doornkop near Dobsonville. According to Nkosi, Doornkop is presently being developed to accommodate this resettlement.
