Welfare reform on the Web (October 2006): Social housing - Overseas

From “quantity” to “quality”: restructuring South Africa’s housing policy ten years after

M.R. Tomlinson

International Development Planning Review, vol.28, 2006, p.85-104

In 1994 the South African Department of Housing released a white paper setting out its new vision and strategy. In 2004 the Cabinet approved a new document entitled Breaking New Ground which is intended to address delivery problems which have arisen over the past ten years or have failed to respond to policy initiatives. This paper sets out the background to the 1994 policy and briefly examines housing delivery over the past ten years. It then compares the key aims and approaches of the 1994 policy with those set out in the 2004 document and highlights changes. The most significant change is the introduction of a subsidy to help people on moderate incomes make a down payment on affordable homes. There is a new emphasis on upgrading existing informal settlements in preference to new developments on greenfield sites and a shift away from a “supply-driven“ to a “demand-driven“ housing delivery process.