SA Affordable Housing November - December 2018 // Issue: 73 | Page 24

FEATURES buildings in the city such as deserted factories or office buildings and re-purpose these into affordable housing units, partnering with private developers on a customised contract basis. “The challenge with these is that many of these buildings are also already illegally occupied and temporary relocation is required which means more space is needed that we don’t always have,” comments an official from City of Johannesburg. On speaking with contractors, from an implementation point of view the challenge comes through the fact that these buildings need to be gutted and there are not always suitable solutions available such as services and sanitation as the buildings were not originally designed for living. We may see a change in the dynamics of sustainable affordable housing models, the resources and infrastructure planning and bringing the required opportunities to the communities rather than the other way around Land reform, specifically related to expropriation without compensation [which is still in the air at time of publishing], has also recently had a major impact for developers and investors alike. “No one wants to invest this sort of money we talk about in developments that essentially go into the hundreds of millions of rands, only to be faced with uncertain outcomes. “For any businessperson, management of risk is vital but when you don’t know what risk you are trying to manage the water become cloudy and this is never a good outlook no matter how suitable your development is to sustainable living,” another source comments. Infrastructure, as already alluded to, is another major source of concern as although there has been zero movement in the last year, people are still flocking to the cities. This not only leads to the overloading of road networks but puts increasing pressure on electricity supply as well as the life-giving resource of water. “Sewerage systems and wastewater treatment facilities are also either stressed or non-existent and also cause backlogs with delivery of homes to the people, particularly in newly developed areas even alongside existing residential areas,” a wet services engineer says. “As an example of this our units are all complete and ready but we are still waiting for the municipality to connect our development to the sewerage system. We have even offered to get our own professionals to do the work but they declined,” another developer comments. This proves another major challenge for developments that are complete but the infrastructure to support is lagging. On the positive side, government and the private sector are working together to find appropriate solutions and are regularly engaging with scholars, university professors and international experts to create and evaluate case studies for sustainable living. “We may see a change in the dynamics of sustainable affordable housing models, the resources and infrastructure planning and bringing the required opportunities to the communities rather than the other way around,” a professor says. We are also seeing a very big drive in alternatives to bricks and mortar that now open up further opportunities to solve the housing backlog in a much shorter timeframe. Location is but one small element of solving the challenge and referring to an internet motivation – ‘if the plan doesn’t work, change the plan but not your goal’. This can be applied to any situation so perhaps thinking outside of the box is what we need. The world can only progress with creativity but let’s not ever forget about quality. Send your article and high resolution images to: Send your Robertson: article and high resolution images to Warren [email protected] [email protected] or call [phone] for more information. or call [phone] CONTACT US: CONTACT US: [phone] www.SAAffordableHousing.co.za www.saaffordablehousing.co.za 22 NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2018 www.SAAffordableHousing.co.za