The National Housing Code

1
The National Housing Code Presentation
to the Portfolio Committee August 2009
2
The National Housing Code 2009

• Is required in terms of Section 4 of the Housing
  Act,1997
• Guides the housing development programme
• Replaces the Code of 2000
• Is aligned to the Comprehensive Plan for the
  Development of Sustainable Human Settlements
  (Breaking New Ground)
• Approved by Minister on 19 February 2009

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The Housing Code 2009

• Is cast in a user friendly format - each
  programme is a complete unit and there is no need
  to cross reference
• Contains prescripts only in as much as required
  by law (Eg. the Public Finance Management Act and
  the Municipal Finance Management Act)
• The discretionary guide-lines provide maximum
  flexibility to housing practitioners and decision
  makers (MECs).

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Alignment to the Comprehensive Plan

• Stimulating the Residential Market Finance
  Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP)
• Spatial Restructuring and Sustainable Human
  Settlements
• Integrated Residential Development Programme
  (IRDP)
• Social Economic Amenities Programme
• Enhanced Peoples Housing Process
• Farm Residents Housing Programme

5
Alignment to the Comprehensive Plan

• Social Housing
• Social Housing Programme
• Community Residential Units Programme
• Informal Settlement Upgrading
• The Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme
• The Emergency Housing Assistance Programme

6
Alignment to the Comprehensive Plan

• Subsidy Funding Reforms
• Review of FLISP
• Annual adjustment of the subsidy quantum
• Job Creation
• The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and
  its principles form part of the Code
• IRDP provides for a range of contracting
  strategies to maximise community employment
  opportunities

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Structure of the Code

• Policy context
• Technical General Guidelines
• Financial Interventions
• Incremental Interventions
• Social Rental Interventions
• Rural Interventions

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Financial Interventions
9
Individual Subsidy

• Programme intended to stimulate the growth of
  secondary housing market
• For individual households who wish to apply for a
  housing subsidy to purchase an existing house or
• To purchase a vacant stand and enter into a
  building contract for the construction of a
  house
• The latter subsidy option may only be awarded to
  households that have entered into loan agreements
  with a financial institution

10
Enhanced Extended Discount Benefit Scheme

• EEDBS is intended to stimulate and facilitate the
  transfer of public stock to qualifying
  beneficiaries
• To ensure that occupants are provided with the
  opportunity to secure individual ownership of
  their housing units
• Entails discounting of an amount up to the
  prevailing housing subsidies on the balance of
  the properties in question

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Operational Capital Budget Programme

• Provides for the application of a certain
  percentage of voted provincial housing funding
  allocation to support the implementation of
  national and provincial housing programmes
• For the appointment of external expertise to
  augment capacity with particular emphasis on,
  amongst others
• The Informal Settlement Upgrading Programme
• Projects that facilitate integrated delivery

12
Rectification of pre 1994 housing stock

• To facilitate the improvement of certain state
  financed residential properties created through
  any of the pre 1994 State financed housing
• Could be utilised for
• Renovation and / upgrading or complete
  construction of structurally damaged dwellings
• Services upgrading

13
Social and Economic Amenities Programme

• Promotes provision of certain basic social
  economic amenities in existing townships and new
  housing areas
• Grants to Municipalities to fund
• Community halls
• Parks
• Sport fields
• Taxi rank facilities
• Informal trading areas

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Housing Chapters of IDP

• To support housing planning as a component of the
  Integrated Development Plans
• Municipal housing needs assessed and defined
• Community participation a key component of this
  process
• Local situations to dictate local solutions
• Councillors to also be actively involved in the
  planning process

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Incremental Interventions
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Consolidation Subsidy

• Provides for the completion of houses on serviced
  sites received through state housing schemes pre
  1994
• Applicable to serviced sites that were obtained
  on the basis of ownership, leasehold and deed of
  grant, and must be used to construct a house
  complying to the current norms and standards.

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Integrated Residential Development Programme

• To promote social, spatial and economic
  integration
• To facilitate the development of projects with a
  variety of land uses and income groups (subsidy
  and bonded housing) which make for sustainable
  communities
• To improve/simplify subsidy beneficiary
  administration
• To facilitate the participation of the private
  sector in low income housing

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Informal Settlement Upgrading

• To upgrade the living conditions of poor people
  by providing secure tenure and access to basic
  services and housing
• An area wide/community approach,
• In situ upgrade of informal settlements
• Relocation recommended as a last resort
• Housing construction from basket of options
• Community involvement a key requisite

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Emergency Housing Assistance

• Provides temporary housing relief to households
  in stress as a first phase towards a permanent
  housing solution
• The programme applies in the following cases
• Second phase disaster intervention
• Persons living in dangerous conditions
• The totally destitute
• To assist households facing the threat of
  imminent evictions

20
Enhanced Peoples Process

• To assist households to access housing subsidies
  (consolidation, institutional or rural subsidies)
  with technical, financial, logistical and
  administrative support to build their own homes
• Empowers communities to participate in satisfying
  their own housing needs and has the potential to
  deliver quality housing and promote ownership.

21
Social Rental Interventions
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Social Housing

• A rental or co-operative housing option which
  requires institutionalised management
• Contributes to addressing structural, economic,
  social and spatial dysfunctionalities
• Promotes non-racial and integrated society in
  sustainable human settlements
• Social housing projects in designated
  restructuring zones e.g. economic, spatial and
  social objectives.

23
Institutional Housing

• Targeted at housing Institutions that provide
  tenure arrangements alternative to immediate
  ownership (e.g. rental, installment sale, share
  block or co-operative tenure) to subsidy
  beneficiaries
• The programme applies outside of Restructuring
  areas of Social Housing Programme

24
Community Residential Units

• Facilitate the provision of secure, stable rental
  tenure for lower income persons
• Target persons households earning below R3500
  not able to access private rental and social
  rental market
• Covers hostels
• Replaces National Hostel Re-development programme

25
Rural Interventions
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Farm Residents Programme

• A flexible approach to the needs of farm
  residents to provide secure tenure to farm
  workers
• Practicable development options Provision for
  rental as well as ownership options
• On farm and off-farm development options
• For farm residents and occupiers as defined in
  ESTA
• Not for seasonal workers

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Farm Residents Programme

• Project based developments for beneficiaries of
  the Labour Tenant Strategy
• The programme will apply in alignment with the
  projects under the LRAD programme
• It will fund houses and residential engineering
  services where required
• The subsidy will be granted to individual
  households
• However, the funding will only be available in
  the context of a project based approach

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Informal Land Rights

• Facilitates project based housing development on
  communal land of both old order and new order
  land tenure secured in terms of ClaRA, 2004
• Not accessible on an individual basis
• Housing development for households in rural areas
  who enjoy functional security of tenure (communal
  tenure)
• Beneficiaries should have uncontested land rights
  on State or communal land

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Informal Land Rights

• Funding is allocated for
• Construction of new housing structures
• Repair and upgrading of existing houses
• Purchasing of building materials where persons
  wish to construct, repair or upgrade their own
  houses
• Where houses are adequate, subsidy can be used
  for provision of residential engineering services
  or other housing purposes

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Thank You