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SA's affordable housing sector ailing
The affordable housing sector remains under pressure, even as demand for urban accommodation remains at a staggering 1m homes. Of the country’s four major banks, most indicated they were in the process of devising ways of assisting potential homeowners who don’t currently qualify for state housing subsidies.
Sexwale aid for poor seen as boon for banks
The government's new Finance-Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLIP) is intended to make it easier for low-income buyers to get loans by reducing the initial home loan amount for first-time buyers of properties that cost R300 000 or less. Banks are counting on the subsidies, together with a government mortgage guarantee program due later this year, to help revive lending, stagnant since 2009.
SA's vision of sustainable cities revealed
Government recently unveiled a plan that authorities hope will turn the country's major cities into sustainable economic hubs. Part of the new strategy would be to unlock the mineral beneficiation potential in the country's mining cities, speeding up the building of new human settlements closer to where people work and building an integrated public transport system that incorporates rail, taxis and buses.
How satellite cities are reshaping East Africa
East Africa hasn't urbanised at the same rate as the rest of the world. While over 50 per cent of the world's population now lives in cities, the East African region of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi - the members of the regional intergovernmental organisation East African Community - will only reach an urban population of 31 per cent by 2030.
What happens when slum dwellers put themselves on the map?
The April 2012 issue of the journal Environment and Urbanization reveals how organisations of the 'illegal' urban poor have made themselves matter to city governments by mapping and documenting their informal settlements and the people and businesses in them.
Edge of sustainability: why Rio+20 mustn't ignore people on city fringe
Cities are the centres of growth, dynamism and opportunity, but they are vulnerable to pollution and disasters, and their poorest people lack basic services. Fiona Marshall and Lyla Mehta of the Steps Centre argue that it is the duty of Rio+20 to ensure the poor don't lose out from rapid urbanisation.
Opportunity for low-income earners to get onto property ladder
Lower-income South Africans who are struggling to secure their first property because their income is either too low to apply for a mortgage or too high to qualify for RDP housing, can now access affordable housing options at Stellendale Village in the Western Cape.
Finmark Trust, Urban Landmark and partners participate in 'The South African Informal City' exhibition
The Architects' Collective and partners hosted the The South African Informal City exhibition in Johannesburg in November/December 2011. This survey of South Africa's most relevant and innovative design and research projects featured explorations and interventions in the informal sector from across the country. Included in the exhibition was a study into the performance of government-subsidised housing units by the Centre for Affordable Housing in Africa, funded by FinMark Trust, Urban LandMark and a number of partners. The study included a visual investment survey, in which the process and extent of home improvements in three government-subsidised housing settlements was explored.
Clayville rental project addresses needs of 'gap market'
Nedbank has entered into an agreement with Central Property Developments Johannesburg to fund a rental housing development in Clayville, located in Midrand, Gauteng. Nedbank will be injecting just over R100 million into the 12-month construction period of this project, which aims to address the needs of the gap market.
Africa's housing ministers seek integration of climate change issues in planning
Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya last week, Africa's Housing and Urban Development Ministers made a commitment to strengthen and develop transformative national urban policy and adopt strategies for realising smarter and more sustainable urban development.
Banking group reports affordable-housing milestone
South African banking group First National Bank reports it has reached its R10-billion loan target in the affordable-housing market (houses aimed at qualifying customers with a gross monthly income of up to R18 000) by providing homes to more than 90 000 families.
New windows opening in housing market
With more than three million reconstruction and development programme (RDP) houses having been allocated since the dawn of democracy, there are now indications the policy has served its purpose and the government is looking to replace it with something it considers more sustainable.
The role of documents in supporting land rights
An article by Jonathan Jackson and Evaristo Musonda, published in the Jan/Feb 2012 issue of PositionIT, details the results of a study investigating how millions of black urban residents in South Africa have been inducted into the land tenure system that used to serve whites only. The study follows the process as experienced by administrators and residents in a township on the edge of the Eastern Cape town of Bathurst.
Houses for members of saving scheme
Scores of people will have decent roofs over their heads after a non-governmental organisation, the Federation of Urban Poor, handed over new houses to delighted beneficiaries in Orange Farm on 1 March.
Transport corridors play key role in property development
The next property boom in South Africa will be driven by transport developments in and around metropolitan areas, University of Cape Town associate professor Francois Viruly said on Wednesday.
Children left behind in world's city boom: UNICEF
Urbanisation leaves hundreds of millions of children in cities and towns excluded from vital services, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) concludes in a new report.
Alex renewal makes progress
With 14 500 houses built, hostels remodelled, electricity, water and sewage upgraded, parks created, bridges built and roads tarred, the Alex Renewal Project has made a huge difference in the lives of the people of Alexandra.
Green paper consultation on land reform to be completed in March
The robust engagement on the Green Paper on Land Reform will be completed before the end of March, according to Deputy Rural Development Minister Lechesa Tsenoli.
No bond for 83% of households
Four out of five households in South Africa do not qualify for mortgages, according to an SA Institute of Race Relations survey. The survey estimated that the incomes of about 83% of the country's nearly 14 million households are not enough to qualify for bank loans.
Cape Town: Eviction fight over unsafe building
The provincial government in the Western Cape has turned to the courts in an attempt to evict a group of people squatting on a piece of land it owns in Woodstock. The department said in papers before the Western Cape High Court that the structure of the building on the property is not safe.
Informal settlements could be our cities of the future
SA is one of the world's biggest manufacturers of shantytowns, commonly known as informal settlements. Independent consultant Greg Mills argues that by seeing these settlements as pointers to new forms of urban design, and by working with and on behalf of their inhabitants, these places can be transformed and developed "from the bottom up into decent living environments".
Cities can help rather than hurt our planet
With congestion, pollution and urbanisation all presenting environmental threats recently highlighted at COP-17, are cities good or harmful to our future?
State employees now own stakes in top malls in SA
The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) has bought two property companies that give government employees and retired public servants stakes in some of SA's premium shopping centres.
Zimbabwe: Bulawayo battles housing backlog, unpaid bills
In an effort to clear a housing waiting list of 100 000, the City Council has embarked on a low-income housing scheme.
Parliament redrafts Rental Bill
The Parliamentary portfolio committee on human settlements has decided to redraft the proposed Rental Housing Amendment Bill so that it covers aspects raised by the department of human settlements and addresses the loopholes and ambiguities identified in the Rental Housing Act and the Rental Housing Amendment Act.
Cato Crest demolitions halted
The controversy around the flattening of shacks to build low-cost houses in the Cato Crest informal settlement in Durban has been amicably resolved, with eThekwini mayor James Nxumalo announcing that the demolitions are to be suspended.
Rent and regeneration in old Johannesburg
As South Africa's largest city struggles to house its growing population, a new apartheid is opening up in the social sector. The Johannesburg Social Housing Company (Joshco) is one of a handful of organisations aiming to turn around areas like Hillbrow.
Over 300 title deeds presented to Joburg beneficiaries
The Joburg Property Company on Tuesday presented about 305 beneficiaries with title deeds to the land they are occupying and four-roomed houses they secured through the reconstruction and development programme.
Families in Motsoaledi informal settlement living in fear of eviction
Ten families living in corrugated iron shacks on the outskirts of the Motsoaledi informal settlement near Johannesburg are living in fear over the threat of eviction due to development in the area.
Title deed delays fail goals of upliftment
Research by Urban Landmark has shown that South Africa is losing the opportunity to raise billions of rands as collateral on government-provided housing to nearly 1.5 million households since 1994.
Harare City Council and Central African Building Society seal U.S.$15 million housing deal
Harare City Council has signed an agreement with the Central African Building Society to build 3 102 core houses worth US$15 million in Budiriro. The houses, for low-income earners, will be built over a two-year period, with each of the four-roomed core houses costing around US$12 000.
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