Question NW1139 to the Minister of Human Settlements

Reply:

The Department has a National Housing Needs Register (NHNR) that is used to register households/ individuals and their housing needs in South Africa. As of 31 March 2023, the National Housing Needs Register had a record of 2 456 773 households/ individuals registered who have advised the government of their need for housing assistance.

a) The strategy for assisting the number of households that have not yet been helped is made up of the following:

1. Partnering with the private sector to crowd in investments, deliver bulk infrastructure, move away from brick and mortar, advance building performance-based building methods, promote innovative technology, accelerate digital transformation, invest in housing manufacturing, and housing material supply, partner with civil society organisations to play a role in developing houses, and allow people to provide housing for themselves.
2. Advising municipalities and provinces to develop land assembly plans where they would identify suitable land parcels for sustainable human settlements development and undertake feasibility and preplanning studies to confirm if such land parcels are suitable for human settlements development.
3. Communicating with registered beneficiaries about the housing application processes, available grants, allocation criteria, title deed process and acquisition of existing stock through property practitioners.
4. Guiding provincial departments to work with the housing development agency to acquire land, install engineering services, construct housing units and work with social housing institutions to provide social housing units, upgrade hostels and put in place support interventions for undertaking small-scale rental and create human settlements bank products.
5. Advising registered beneficiaries about their classification according to agreed priorities, housing priority areas and ensuring that those deemed to be vulnerable such as the aged, persons living with disabilities, women with young children, those in emergency housing circumstances, special groups such as identified military veterans, the victims of gender-based violence, youth and victims in terms of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission are attended first.

b) It is difficult to determine the timeline for assisting households/ individuals because a timeline is dependent on a number of factors such as land availability, private sector partners, contractors, developers, civil society organisations, budget and grant allocation, Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS), multi-year and annual business plans as well as the approval of projects.