Human Settlements
Whether there is a system in place that his Department and municipalities utilise to include input from potential housing beneficiaries on planned housing projects in the province; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Yes.
In terms of the National Housing Code (2009), municipalities are required to provide for the development of Housing Chapters in their Integrated Development Plans [IDP] to ensure that the housing needs assessments as well as the identification, surveying and prioritisation of informal settlements are included in each IDP.
This Chapter is referred to as their municipal Human Settlement Plan [HSP], which not only analyses the municipal need, but defines the strategic focus. This then leads to the development of Housing Pipelines. Community / public participation follows up to ward level to feed into the HSP. Similarly, the sector departments are consulted, to ensure that their budgets are aligned to the municipal housing projects. Approximately two months are dedicated to this exercise. In order to conclude this process, the HSP is presented to Council for endorsement. This HSP then forms part of the IDP and its sectoral plans.
