PRIVATE developers with their own land will be invited to partner with the City for the development of gap and affordable housing. This follows the tabling of a report at an Executive Committee meeting held this week.
The report suggests that private developers l enter into partnership agreements to assist to provide gap and affordable housing developments to assist in creating sustainable human settlements and improved quality of household life.
According to the report, to date eThekwini Municipality has delivered 194 794 RDP homes, 2 787 Community Residential Units with 23 000 rental units transferred to tenants. However, despite these efforts the housing backlog persists.
Gap housing is a Human Settlements Programme which is enabled through the Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP) which targets the population that is capable of producing income and classified as the economically active population who can afford to pay monthly bonds and rental payments. The FLISP was developed to enable first time home-ownership to households in the affordable or gap market, which are people earning between R3 501 and R22 000 per month.
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The report notes the rapid rate of urbanisation in the city, with the increase in urban population outpacing the economic development in the city resulting in a demand for safe, clean and affordable housing.
The City cannot cope alone with the growing demand for gap and affordable housing with a need to forge strategic partnerships with the private sector which can provide an additional source of capital to meet the gaps.
In line with Supply Chain Management Policy, the first step is calling for expression of interest for private developers to partner with the City on their own land parcels for gap and affordable housing developments. Step two calls for proposals against the properties identified. This will allow the City to quantify the infrastructure costs against the expected yield and subsequently budget for these projects once feasibility and binding contracts have been signed.
The report recommended that the Urban Settlements Development Grant be utilised for the infrastructure provision of services for the gap and affordable housing project. It further recommended that reduced planning fees be charged to private developers while stating that the Municipality would receive over time, rates from these housing projects as well as social dividends.
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