Informal Settlement Upgrading and Informal Settlement Upgrading and

Backyard ShacksBackyard Shacks

Housing Leadership Forum

Steve Topham, NUSP Technical Team, 9 February 2011

South Africa: Urbanisation 1960South Africa: Urbanisation 1960--20002000

• 2004: Breaking New Ground –

new comprehensive plan for

sustainable human settlements:

― New instrument - Upgrading

Informal Settlements

Programme – for incremental in-

situ upgrading

― UISP set out in Part 3 National

Housing Code

• BUT widely interpreted as target

to eradicate all informal

settlements by 2014

Breaking New Ground 2004Breaking New Ground 2004

N2 Gateway rental units

Blikkiesdorp Removal Area

1.5 m

16% of total

9.7m h/hs

1994

Backlog:

Number of

households

2.3 m

1994-2010

Subsidised

housing units

produced

2.1 m

17% of total

12.5m h/hs

2010

Backlog:

Number of

households

Great achievements… but running to stand still?Great achievements… but running to stand still?

2 700

300

1994 2010

Informal Settlements in

South Africa

4.5

persons

3.9

persons

Total:

9.7m h/hs

Total:

12.5m h/hs

1996 2007

Average household size

Household formation & informal settlement growthHousehold formation & informal settlement growth

2 700

300

1994 2010

Informal Settlements in

South Africa

4.5

persons

3.9

persons

Total:

9.7m h/hs

Total:

12.5m h/hs

1996 2007

Average household size

Household formation & informal settlement growthHousehold formation & informal settlement growth

4.7%4.1%

2001 2007

Backyard Shacks

Backyard shack statisticsBackyard shack statistics

Census 2001;

Community Survey 2007

• 2007 estimated 421 000 rented

shacks, of which:

• 282 000 are in backyards

• 139 000 are in informal

settlements

• But could be over 500 000

• So a highly successful segment

of national housing supply – but

complex, relationship based,

livelihoods and income source

.

Backyard Shack RentalsBackyard Shack Rentals

Income & Expenditure Survey 2006, in SHIFT Shack Rentals in SA, 2008

Municipality <R 850 R850-1 500 R1 500-3 500

Ekurhuleni 46% 31% 12%

Joburg 41% 30% 11%

Tshwane 42% 35% 12%

Cape Town 55% 35% 15%

Ethekwini 16% 11% 1%

Amatole DM 6% -2% -5%

Motheo DM 19% 8% -4%

Nelson Mandela 16% 10% 0.4%

Umgungundlovu DM 23% 8% -4%

Projected growth in households renting 2005Projected growth in households renting 2005--20122012

SHIFT Shack Rentals in SA, 2008

NB Highest rental demand in low-income bands in Gauteng

plus Cape Town, translates to more growth in backyard rentals

Backyard Shacks and 2010Backyard Shacks and 2010--11 IDP Reviews11 IDP Reviews

Municipality %Total H/holds

in Backyard

Shacks (2007)

2010-11 IDP stated interventions on backyard

shacks

Ekurhuleni 9.1 Formalisation of backyard shacks by 2015

Joburg 8.4 • Develop comprehensive backyard shack

strategy

• Housing allocation policy must include

backyarders

Tshwane 7.1 No specific reference to backyarders

Cape Town 6.2 • Housing Allocation Policy provides for

backyarders on housing database to be allocated

housing opportunities

• Provide second service connections

Ethekwini * 4.5 No specific reference to backyarders

* Ethekwini 2009/10 IDP review

Municipality %Total H/holds in

Backyard Shacks

IDP references to backyard shacks

Buffalo City 4.1 Establish housing needs database,

including backyarders

Mangaung 3.1 No specific reference to backyarders

Nelson Mandela 2.6 No specific reference to backyarders

Msunduzi 0.4 No specific reference to backyarders

Backyard Shacks and 2010Backyard Shacks and 2010--11 IDP Reviews11 IDP Reviews

• General picture is of response via Housing Database

and new unit provision

• Understanding of importance of rental livelihoods and

supporting small-scale landlords less well developed.

• ‘Upgrade and formalise informal backyard rental’

• Subsidised unit (two rooms, wet core, R25K) plus formal

landlord-tenant contracts

• Rollout 2 000 + units including Orlando, Alex, Mamelodi,

• Rents raised, poorer tenants displaced

• Number of rental units reduced (another reason why rents

increased)

• Contracts largely remained verbal

• Conclusion – programme didn’t recognise complex and

sensitive relationships and nature of market

One response One response –– Gauteng Backyard Rental Gauteng Backyard Rental

Programme Programme

Informal settlementsInformal settlements

• Poor GDP growth (<6%) not keeping

pace with population growth

• Poverty – still 40% real unemployment

• Decrease in revenue collection by

SARS – down by R65bn in FY09/10 –

pressure on dept budgets

• For DHS this means fewer home-

building projects (Minister’s speech,

17 Sep 09)

• Increasing number and frequency of

community protests –slow rate of

delivery, lack of ‘voice’, xenophobia

Current context and impacts Current context and impacts

• 1.1 million households in informal

settlements 2008 estimate (growing at 2-

6% pa across different councils)

• Full RDP package (40m2 top structure,

250m2 stand plus 30% for roads and

amenities) would need:

– 35 750 ha, plus bulk and connector

infrastructure

– R84bn - 70% of projected national housing

budget 09-15

• Current rate of UISP spend means would

take to 2037 to meet 2014 target

Informal settlements ‘eradicated’ by 2014?Informal settlements ‘eradicated’ by 2014?

National Upgrading Support ProgrammeNational Upgrading Support Programme

There are examples of good practice, but …

• Little awareness and use of UISP and Part 3 NHC at sub-national level

• Sectoral coordination is weak

• Implementation - ‘eradicate’ rather than ‘upgrade’, emphasis on top structures and full services

• No real information on communities, & how upgrading can strengthen livelihood strategies

• Little community-based participation

• Layouts are monotonous, low density & usually located at urban peripheries

• Service levels often inappropriate, entail high future costs to municipalities

NUSP Assessment FindingsNUSP Assessment Findings

• Services: emergency; basic; full service level –taking account of sustainability, operations and maintenance costs to municipality

• Tenure: recognition of informal settlement; interim tenure; rental; leasehold; freehold

• Social & Community Facilities: co-location in settlement or easy access for public

• Human-centred & environmentally sustainable planning layout – safe, good quality neighbourhoods, upgradeable, maximum use of renewable resources

• Community-based participation processes

• Crowd in support programmes (eg skills, business support, health & hygiene education)

Incremental Upgrade PackageIncremental Upgrade Package

National Delivery AgreementNational Delivery Agreement

• Performance Agreement between President &

National Minister May 2010 – April 2014

• Delivery agreement (operation of Performance

Agreement) accepted by PCC May 2010, and

approved by MINMEC

― 400 000 households in well-located informal

settlements to receive basic services and secure

tenure by 2014

― Provide 6 250 ha of public land for low-income

housing

― Accreditation of 6 metro and 21 large town councils

― Establish NUSP and publish upgrading Resource Kit

― Provide 80 000 public & private rental units

― Facilitate provision of 600 000 gap market units

Delivery AgreementDelivery Agreement

Upgrade 400 000 households: provincial targets Upgrade 400 000 households: provincial targets

ProvinceInformal Settlement Households

Share of National TargetEstimated Cost: R000

Eastern Cape 59 400 1 813 546

Free State 26 400 806 021

Gauteng 96 800 2 955 409

KwaZulu-Natal 76 200 2 326 468

Limpopo 31 200 952 570

Mpumalanga 26 480 808 463

Northern Cape 9 320 285 466

North West 28 840 880 516

Western Cape 45 360 1 384 890

Total 400 000 12 213 349

Budget to be secured from National Human Settlement Grant

allocation provided from NDHS to provinces

• Promote incremental upgrading as a major complementary housing programme, in line with Part 3 NHC (where possible, in-situ)

• Support Delivery Agreement target to improve basic infrastructure, services and land tenure for 400 000 informal settlement households by 2014

• Improve programmatic approach to upgrading, strengthening coordination with other sectors and partners

• Strengthen capacity of government and professional practitioners to implement community-based incremental upgrading

National Upgrading Support Programme: objectives National Upgrading Support Programme: objectives

• Upgrading

Forum

• Partnerships

(eg DCOG,

DBSA,

NDPG, ULM,

2E Project

• Promoting

Part 3 NHC

• Monitoring &

Evaluation

• Resource

Kit

• Research

• Information

circulation

• Targeted TA

at sub-

national

level

• Guidance

to prof &

technical

teams

• Implementation of good practice

• Programme roll-out at scale towards objective targets

National Upgrading Support Programme Unit

Policy

RefinementNetwork &

Forum

Guidance &

Tools

Technical

Assistance

NUSP elementsNUSP elements

• NUSP roll-out programme to 49 municipalities (across all

provinces, about 75% of all informal settlement

households) by March 2011

• Under construction www.upgradingsupport.org

• NUSP Resource Kit and Capacity Building Programme

being developed

• Political buy-in secured through National Deputy Minister

as champion, MECs signed Delivery Agreements

November 2010

• Provinces submitting project plans against Delivery

Agreement targets, looking to set up NUSP structures

NUSP and Delivery Agreement progress NUSP and Delivery Agreement progress

• Discussions with 15 agencies and partners about their

role in NUSP – including HDA, NURCHA, NDPG

• Alignment with Accreditation process – include other

municipalities in NUSP, use of NUSP to identify

potential accreditation candidates

• Discussions with community structures, NGOs and

CBOs on participation

• Inclusion of NUSP within Delivery Agreement

Programme Management Unit

• Technical challenges of next stage – project

identification (provincial and municipal), project-level

SHS transformation plans, technical assistance at scale

NUSP and Delivery Agreement progress NUSP and Delivery Agreement progress

Resources to support implementation Resources to support implementation –– subject to subject to

national budget processesnational budget processes

Major commitments by NDHS and National Treasury:

• Re-directing Human Settlement Development Grant

provincial allocations towards Delivery Agreement priorities

• Informal settlement upgrading including within National

Priority Programmes (Minister’s 20% reservation in HSDG)

• Creation of new Urban Settlements Development Grant (MIG

Cities replaced, plus contribution from HSDG)

• Allocation for NUSP from NDHS operations budget

Thank YouThank You