Infrastructure:
With regard to the Human Settlements Strategy to provide services to informal settlements:
(1) Whether his Department has any strategic plan to provide housing-related services in informal settlements; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) what is his Department’s plan to build capacity in municipalities to deliver housing services in areas with expanding informal settlements;
(3) whether any research is taking place regarding the unique problems facing specific settlements; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
[1] Yes, my Department has in place an informal settlement upgrading strategy.
My Department has identified and categorized informal settlements across the Province, based on its settlement count, level of existing services, access to available land for decanting, availability of bulk services etc. Based on these assessments, each settlement is earmarked for either in-situ upgrading, relocation, basic services or full upgrade with formal sites.
At present, 33 projects are funded via the Department’s ISUP-Grant Business Plan, amounting to R484 638 000 for 2022-23. These projects are at different stages of implementation, project preparation or planning. Twelve of these projects are in the implementation stage and projected to deliver serviced sites and/or interim basic services.
My Department’s new Housing Delivery Model will also speak to the Province’s new innovative, evidence-based Human Settlements Policy, and especially on elements of densification, the accelerated roll-out of enhanced serviced sites, interim structures, and innovative beneficiary administration.
[2] a] My Department has been hosting an innovative Informal Settlement Support Forum, where all Municipalities, provincial and National sister-departments and SALGA, are exposed to different capacity-building initiatives and best practice examples pertaining to the upgrading of informal settlements;
[b] On-going technical support is provided to all Municipalities via dedicated technical engagements and municipal outreaches specifically for Informal Settlement projects within a municipality. These include:
[1] the updating of the informal settlement database;
[2] explaining the parameters of the new Informal Settlement Upgrading Partnership Grant [ISUP-G];
[3] informal settlement project identification and packaging [related to issues including basic services, facilitation service provider support, land acquisition, and re-blocking etc.].
[c] A Memorandum of Agreement [MOA] with Garden Route District Municipality [GRDM], signed in December 2020, whereby my Department provides funding to the municipality for human resources to accelerate human settlement projects in the region, including informal settlements.
[3] Yes, my Department has in the past three years utilized experts in the informal settlements sphere to understand what unlocking actions are required to enable informal settlements upgrade. We also researched existing capacity and socio-economic capital within the settlements, as well as innovative ideas and mechanisms which have worked in the past, such as fire-prevention techniques etc. One of the partners was the Craft and Design Institute and was co-funded by the Department of Economic Development and Tourism [DEDAT].
My Department has, in collaboration with the University of Stellenbosch’s Fire Engineering Research Unit [FireSUN], developed a report and guideline [2021] to improve fire safety in informal settlements, including fire safety interventions for backyarders. This collaboration has yielded various communication materials [videos, brochures, and posters] provided to municipalities and other informal settlement stakeholders.
My Department is also currently researching an innovative policy on the different typology options and costings of enhanced serviced sites which would also be one of the pillars of informal settlement upgrade for qualifying residents
