Human Settlements Review - Parliamentary Monitoring Group

Human Settlements Review, Volume 1, Number 1, 2010
physical capabilities to live in close proximity
to each other.
3.5 The ecomomic implications of
“disentanglement”
It is obvious that with current funding, using
conventional approaches to building and
settlement development is not the route to
go in terms of delivery efficiency and backlog
challenges. Sometimes it is even questioned
whether the subsidy approach is sustainable.
However, it is also understood that the private
sector would in any case address housing
demand, across the board of income levels,
where it is seen as a viable and profitable
market. It is also understood that the role
of government would still remain crucial in
achieving developmental aims. Various forms
of government support, including but not
restricted to funding, will be important for many
years to come.
Funding (in the form of subsidies, grants,
loans) needs to be strategically used:
two (2) distinct levels where one level is
permanent, robust, high-quality and shared
by groups of people and communities, while
the second (lower) level is more transient,
transformable, and less permanent; implies
that it can be upgraded once more funds are
sourced without them having to be completely
demolished.
The second point means that projects need
enough assets that enable them to be financially
viable. Can these aims be achieved with the
current subsidy figures It is argued that the
only way that these aims can be achieved is
by changing the way that government finances
housing at present and by changing the way
that the housing stock is actually built.
Identification of the various, distinct levels of
intervention within the urban fabric means that
different qualities (at different costs) of infill
to be achieved within a permanent support
system. Changing market demands would
have to be catered for, if housing is to be usable
and profitable over a long period of time.
• To put in place assets that will be
useful for many years into the future;
• To to develop institutions that will
be sustainable and able to function
independently in the future;
• To encourage individual/group
ownership and long-term commitment
and responsibility for the residential
building stock.
The first point may be addressed by adopting
an approach to the built environment that
factors in the element of “time”. By conceiving
of developments from the outset as having
In searching for alternative ways and methods
of design and implementation, it is also
attempted to challenge the perception that
limited funds mean poor quality or that low
cost means that a flexible, enabling, inclusive,
accessible environment catering for the needs
of all sectors of the target population cannot be
addressed through creative design.
There is no single solution to cost efficiency;
it needs to be addressed in creative ways
with long-term vision. In rental housing, a unit
houses different people with different needs
throughout its lifetime. Rather than having a
247