SA Affordable Housing May / June 2017 // Issue: 64 | Page 12

ASSOCIATIONS
NHBRC to invest in participation of women, youth, people with disabilities and military veterans in the home building industry. Image: NHRBC
Over R30m to transform
home building industry
The National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) will be
spending more than R30-million in the new financial year in an effort
to bring about transformation in the home building industry.
T
he announcement was made during the launch of
the NHBRC Transformation Charter held at
Cedarwood, Johannesburg.
The NHBRC Transformation Charter seeks to address
pertinent issues that relate to the advancement of equal
economic opportunities in the human settlements value
chain to optimise the meaningful participation of priority
and vulnerable groups including women, youth, people
with disabilities and military veterans. The launch was
hosted in partnership with the Department of Human
Settlements, as part of the International Women’s
Day celebrations.
Speaking at the launch, NHBRC acting chairperson of
council, Julieka Bayat, says the NHBRC believes that the
transformation charter will assist council in unlocking
obstacles to and the effective participation by the
identified groupings.
“It further asserts measureable goals for us to achieve on
the road to a radically transformed home building industry.
We also wish to demonstrate our support towards
government’s efforts of promoting social and economic
transformation,” says Bayat. She adds that one of the
biggest challenges in achieving an effective transformation
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programme in the industry is the lack of adequate skills.
She says that the council will be investing most of the
money in upskilling the most vulnerable groups, including
women, youth, people with disabilities and
military veterans.
“Women are particularly under-represented with respect
to ownership, control and the management of companies
involved in the housing value chain as well as in terms of
technical skills. Also, the high unemployment rate,
especially of our youth has heightened the need for us to
aggressively pursue transformation of the sector to create
self-employment opportunities,” says Bayat.
Human Settlements deputy minister Zou Kota-
Fredericks, who attended the launch, said transformation
and economic empowerment must be driven aggressively
in the home building environment.
“It is critical to note that the radical economic
transformation programme is not a stand-alone
programme as it has no special budget and should be an
integral part of every department and all entities of
government. It calls on all of us to revisit the Preferential
Procurement Act to respond adequately to this issue,” says
Kota-Fredericks.