I wish to make the
following submission to on the Public Hearing on Housing Development Agency
Bill (B1-2008):-
“The Housing
Development Agency should have as part of its powers and objects the specific
identification, support and funding of research into physical ways and
means to improve housing, which will include the possibility of funding of
pilot demonstration projects”.
My reasons for requesting this:
Housing is a vital national issue involving great capital expenditure. But research into improving the production of housing, and the kind of housing produced, is currently undirected and unsystematic. Diverse efforts are located in many disparate places, sometimes at educational institutions, sometimes with developers, sometimes with sponsors, sometimes with individuals – all with no independent central value assessment, coordination and communication. I am often dismayed by the time and money expended on miscellaneous questionable efforts that could have been avoided by proper prior independent assessment
If there is a notion that developers should fund research based on their potential profit, then this has proved questionable as they may be biased to certain products and processes to the exclusion of others. Their priorities may not include design, ecological and social values extraneous to their profit motive. Even respected institutions such as the CSIR charged with their obligation to generate their own funding have become a showroom for suppliers.
The Housing Development Agency should have sufficient authority and funding to encourage and test various options independently. This could include an independent database, communication and promoting ideas. It would also, importantly, include the building and assessment of demonstration examples.
I am an independent academic studying housing efforts in
Dr Gerald Gordon PhD, M.Arch (cum Laude)
Research Architect (Hon Research Fellow Wits University appointed 1999)
Consultant to the NHBRC
Author of the CSIR sponsored paper on the Web - Upgrading of Informal Settlement – see Google – Twin thin-skin Construction.
Refereed papers on housing accepted for publication in