South African Government – Department of Human Settlements

Housing

• Sustainable human settlements
• Rental housing for the poor
• Housing institutions
• Subsidies

The Department of Human Settlements determines, finances, promotes, communicates and monitors the implementation of housing and sanitation programmes in South Africa.

Government has set itself the target of making a positive impact on the quality of life of 500 000 households by 2014, by upgrading informal settlements. The upgrade will provide households with security of tenure and access to essential services in sites that are close to economic and other social amenities.

To meet its objective of sustainable human settlements and improved quality of household life, the Department of Human Settlements has identified the following areas of priority:

• accelerated delivery of housing opportunities
• access to basic services
• more efficient land use
• an improved property market.

Between 1994 and June 2011, government built over three million homes for South Africans, giving shelter to over 13 million people.

Read more: http://www.dhs.gov.za/

Also: http://www.info.gov.za/aboutsa/housing.htm

UN Data – Slum Population in Urban Areas

Slum population in urban areas:

http://data.un.org

Wikipedia on Public & Affordable Housing

Wikipedia – Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a combination of the two, usually with the aim of providing affordable housing. Social housing can also be seen as a potential remedy to housing inequality.

Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, definitions of poverty and other criteria for allocation vary within different contexts.

Read more: Wikipedia.org – Public Housing

See also:  Wikipedia.org – Affordable Housing

About Affordable Housing Forum

“The number of people living in urban areas will increase ever rapidly. Urbanization – the demographic transition from rural to urban – is associated with shifts from an agriculture-based economy to mass industry, technology and services. For the first time ever, the majority of the world’s population lives in a city, and this proportion continues to grow.

A hundred years ago, 2 out of every 10 people lived in an urban area. By 1990, less than 40% of the global population lived in a city, but as of 2010, more than half of all people live in an urban area. By 2030, 6 out of every 10 people will be living in a city, and by 2050, this number will have increased to 7 out of 10 people. Currently, around half of all urban dwellers live in cities with between 100.000 – 500.000 people, and fewer than 10% of urban dwellers live in mega cities (defined by UN HABITAT as a city with a population of more than 10 million).” – Quote: World Health Organization 

Affordable Housing Forum aims to gather news items and articles about all facets of public housing, and investigate any issues surrounding it faced by local as well as national governments.

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Commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations – The Hague during the first three years (2012-2014)

Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in the materials on this section do not necessarily represent the views of the Ministry.