LOCAL government is set to take a more hands-on role in housing development now that the cabinet has endorsed Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu's plan to extend municipal powers to expedite housing delivery.

Business Day reported today that while Sisulu's plan has been welcomed by the South African Local Government Association (Salga), some municipalities worry about the timing, which they say could hinder her initiative.

Sisulu proposed to the cabinet increasing municipalities' responsibilities to include the planning and construction of housing. Draft laws to make this a reality will probably reach Parliament next year.

Sisulu argues that the dramatic growth of housing required is compounded by rapid urbanisation, migration and an increasing anger from beneficiaries about the pace of delivery, the report says.

"We must be concerned about the widespread difficulties in the form of blockages and inefficiencies that continue to plague our housing delivery chain [and] rise to the challenge of breaking new ground in housing delivery," the minister is quoted as saying.

According to Business Day, Salga chairman Amos Masondo told a conference on housing attended by senior officials from the three spheres of government this week that municipalities were being blamed unfairly for lack of housing delivery -- a responsibility that has so far belonged national and provincial governments.

He said municipalities had taken the blame for projects halted due to escalating costs, corruption and business bankruptcy due to delayed payments by the government.

Sisulu said that she envisaged that municipalities would play a substantial role in the delivery of well-constructed houses; as well as engineering the integration of communities through mixed-income residential areas.

Her plan, according to the Business Day report, proposes a progressive accreditation of municipalities to which her department would assign some housing functions.

The provincial and local government department is drafting guidelines to help municipalities assigned these duties learn how to manage urban planning and management.

Salga said the plan will ensure that there is a systematic and organised eradication of informal settlements. It said the assignment of the housing function to accredited municipalities will go a long way in achieving "clarity" in housing delivery.

Masondo is quoted as saying that the government would have less anxiety about delivery if all spheres of government accepted that the delivery of housing should be a municipal responsibility synchronised with the delivery of other basic services.

Source: Business Day
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