Approximately 7000 social housing units are expected to be built in the inner-city in the next few years to accommodate the growth in population and demand for affordable housing.
This emerged at a town talk on social housing opportunities in the inner-city regeneration campaign held recently with rapid urbanization cities are bursting at the seams and are compelled to reinvent the urban core to accommodate this population growth. The United Nations estimates that 80% of the world population will be living in cities by 2050, and eThekwini is already feeling the impact of this rise in population in urban centers.
The inner city regeneration strategy aims to accommodate approximately 450,000 people in the inner- city in the inner city, at least 40% of the accommodation provided will be a mix of affordable, gap, and social housing.
Sma Moloi, Deputy Head of Formal Housing in the Human Settlement Department explained that social housing refers to housing for those who are earning a certain income and can enter into a lease agreement with the owner of the property.
The government provides partial subsidization and disburses funding for infrastructure development, the city facilitates a robust land release strategy to accelerate the development of affordable housing Moloi explained that many incentives are offered to social housing developers.
The land is released over a 50-year period for a high discount rate of 90%, land for gap housing is also discounted by up to 70% making it attractive and viable to develop social housing.
The city also offers a reduction in development fees and guides the developer to ensure success, Moloi explained that there are approximately 2210 social housing units throughout eThekwini that will be released in the new year, there are approximately 1578 gap housing units in Ethekwini municipality, the aim is to ensure that communities are closer to amenities”.
We are intentional in locating land parcels for development, acting CEO of the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA), Mr Lebowa Letsoalo said that it is important for social housing institutions to be accredited by SHRA by the Social Housing Act 16 of 2008.
He also advised emerging property developers to partner with each other to stand a better chance of success.