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A new era in housing: The Department of Human Settlements' essential shift from housing builder to settlement enabler
South Africa's post-apartheid housing landscape has long been shaped by spatial exclusion, urban fragmentation, and economic inequality.
Image: Tracey Adams / IOL
The challenge for the Department of Human Settlements (DHS) is to move from being a housing builder to a settlement enabler, ensuring that delivery is not just about numbers, but about equity, dignity and inclusion.
This is according to Dr Uduak Johnson and Dr Thandile Ncwana, who are Academic Programme Leaders at the Management College of Southern Africa (MANCOSA) School of Public Administration, in response to an enquiry by "Independent Media Property".
They described the first year of South Africa's 7th Administration, which came into office about a year ago following the 29 May 2024 elections, as being marked by cautious optimism and necessary institutional realignment.
They said while progress has been uneven, key reforms such as governance strengthening, spatial policy recalibration and targeted investments in vulnerable groups signal a shift toward developmental governance.
'What remains now is for the 7th Administration's plans to be translated into tangible, community-centred outcomes.'
Delivering the 2025 Budget Vote on Wednesday, DHS Minister Thembi Simelane said over the next five years, the Department's delivery efforts will be driven by a focused agenda that seeks to consolidate past investments, respond to urgent needs, and deepen our impact.
'Therefore, as we begin to lay the foundation of the recently approved 2024-2029 MTDP, we have committed to deliver the following during the 2025/2026 financial year: 41 944 housing units, 32 250 fully serviced sites with water, sewer, electricity, and roads, 4 282 units through the First Home Finance programme, originally known as FLISP (Financially Linked Individual Subsidy Programme), 3 000 social housing units and eradicate 8 047 mud houses,' Simelane said.
Dr Johnson and Dr Ncwana said that despite the intent of policies such as Breaking New Ground (BNG) and the Comprehensive Plan for the Development of Sustainable Human Settlements, delivery has often occurred at the urban periphery, reinforcing marginalisation.
They said by the time the 7th Administration took office last year, the backlog had grown to over 2.3 million housing units, with 2 700+ informal settlements nationwide and slow progress in land release and infrastructure upgrades.
The academics said, despite severe budget constraints and inflationary pressures, the DHS has made incremental progress with highlights that include the Special Housing Needs Programme (launched March 2025), targeting vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities, elderly persons, and survivors of domestic violence.
Another one is the Housing Assistance Programme for Military Veterans, fast-tracked, with 4 560 beneficiaries confirmed. They said it also brought Institutional Stabilisation as boards were appointed to five of six DHS entities, thereby improving governance oversight.
With regards to policy advancements, the academic programme leaders mentioned the approval of a new Human Settlements White Paper in December last year, outlining integrated and sustainable development frameworks.
They said with regards to Social Housing Expansion, the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA) approved 1 898 units in FY2024/25, while the SHIP 15A pipeline continues to grow.
Additionally, they said digitalisation efforts have begun to improve beneficiary tracking and reduce fraudulent housing allocations, although their implementation is still partial.
The MANCOSA academics said persistent and emerging challenges for the department included systemic constraints.
'Informal Settlement Growth: Upgrading initiatives remain underfunded and inadequately implemented. Although the Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant (ISUP) exists, the number of informal settlements continues to grow beyond 2 700.'
They said there were also governance failures with reports from the Auditor-General (AGSA) and Special Investigating Unit (SIU) pointing to irregular expenditure, ghost beneficiaries, and project mismanagement, especially at provincial and municipal levels.
The other challenge was the spatial disconnect as settlements remained far from transport, economic nodes, and services, continuing the apartheid legacy.
The academic leaders said the budgetary pressures with reduced allocations to the Human Settlements Development Grant (HSDG) and the impact of inflation have constrained delivery.
'Provinces such as Gauteng and the Western Cape underspent and had portions of their HSDG reallocated to better-performing provinces like the Eastern Cape (99% expenditure).'
To meet its long-term mandate, Johnson and Ncwana said the DHS must pivot from mass delivery alone to an enabling developmental role that prioritises spatial justice through the release of well-located urban land, upgrading over displacement in informal settlements, inclusive and participatory urban planning, including People's Housing Processes (PHP), blended finance models, combining public subsidies, private investment, and concessional loans as well as performance-based budgeting, where provinces are rewarded for efficient delivery.
Independent Media Property
