Mmamoloko Kubayi, the Minister of Human Settlements, aims to transform old and unused government buildings into homes for government workers.
She intends to do this in Tshwane, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, and Port Elizabeth.
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The Black Business Council in the Built Environment hosted the Inaugural Built Environment Indaba in Midrand on 5 April. During the event, Kubayi noted that this initiative is part of a wider effort to dismantle apartheid-era spatial planning.
She said the is to relocate workers nearer to their workplaces or existing economic prospects and added that the project will initially focus on providing housing for government workers.
‘The majority of them, who are low-income earners, are sitting in backyards and informal settlements…in a shack, having worked for the government for 20 years. It’s unacceptable. This is the challenge,’ she said.
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As reported by Engineering News, the Department of Human Settlements (DHS) is working with the National Housing Finance Corporation to assist government employees in qualifying for housing subsidies.
‘But once we do that, it means they’re going to need the accommodation. Our interest is not for them to go now and buy in Soweto and travel to Pretoria. We would rather want them to stay within the inner city of Pretoria.’
Kubayi added that she is working with Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Sihle Zikalala to determine which government-owned buildings within the major metros could be converted into residential apartheid buildings.
‘Our first targets are Tshwane, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. In Port Elizabeth, we’ve already done one through the Social Housing [programme] within the inner city, but there are quite a number that we want to increase. The focus will be in these densely populated areas.’
This is also an opportunity for practitioners and construction companies within the built environment. ‘We don’t intend to be the developers of these properties. It’s a headache I don’t want. My responsibility is to create a conducive environment. For built environment practitioners and companies, this is a space that you should be able to play.
‘What is of great interest for us as a sector is where, geographically, people want houses and what type of houses they want. Urbanisation has placed 60% of South Africans in major and secondary cities, which means that the demand for housing in urban centres has significantly increased,’ she added.
‘It therefore stands to reason that the infrastructure backlog that we find in housing is concentrated in urban centres, both in major and secondary cities.’
Urbanisation, climate change, and advancements in alternative building methods are also major factors influencing housing location and type, she said.
‘Currently, I have a crisis on my hands. Shacks are burning every day. It’s not sustainable to replace those shacks every day. We spend millions of rands that we shouldn’t be spending in the manner that we are doing. It’s an opportunity in terms of innovative building.’
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Picture: @FaithMazibukoSA / X