“WHERE people live and work matters”, begins the NDP’s chapter on human settlements. “Apartheid planning consigned the majority of South Africans to places far away from work, where services could not be sustained, and where it was difficult to access the benefits of society and participate in the economy.”

Since 1994, however, there has been a chronic shortage of affordable housing with market price cliffs preventing black South Africans from progressing up the property ladder and a lack of supply for the “gap market”, those with incomes too high to qualify for a subsidised home but too low to get a home loan.

BOX: NDP: Where people live and work matters
MTSF: Transform spatial patterns
Primary goal: Increase integrated housing opportunities

The medium-term strategic framework sets clear goals for transforming spatial patterns with a particular focus on tackling the affordable market. One of its first goals is to increase the supply of housing opportunities using different tenure types to match diverse needs. The framework gives the Department of Human Settlements until March 2015 to produce a strategy to increase the supply of affordable housing.

Chief Director of Communications at the Department of Human Settlements Xolani Xundu says the strategy will form a chapter in the human settlements Green Paper to be finalised by March.

“The fundamentals here are on the need for both public and private sectors to better understand the workings of the affordable housing market, and how to bridge the gap between affordable housing demand and supply, by financing the housing market in a sustainable manner and increasing the provision of affordable housing options.”

The strategy, he says, must take into account affordable rentals and informal housing. It must look at diversifying opportunity and market risk in those sectors. Backyard rentals are to a strong indicator of activity in the housing market, says Xundu.

Through the strategy, the department will also explore how municipal data sets — building permits, valuation rolls and planning frameworks — can inform housing market conditions and the potential for growth. It will focus on the effect cities have had linking housing developments to transit and economic corridors.

“Like anywhere else in the world where housing markets are functional, we also need to create a conducive environment that will enable those lower down in the market to access credit (and the range of other diverse financial products) — of course in this case the collaborative effort between the state and the private sector is crucial.” To increase the private sector lending to the gap market, the strategy will look at possible incentives to offer.