How do we define Informal Settlements:
UN HABITAT (2015) ; PRETORIA DECLARATION FOR HABITAT III (2016)
Informal settlements are residential areas where:
NATIONAL HOUSING CODE DEFINITION (2009)
Characteristics of Informal Settlements:
Informal settlement upgrading is a key agenda item for creating sustainable human settlements and restoring the dignity of millions of South Africans who dwell in informal settlements. The implementation and realisation of this agenda item is materialised through the Upgrading Informal Settlements Programme (UISP) as espoused in the National Housing Code (Part 3, Volume 4). In an endeavour to ensure that informal settlement upgrading is prioritised, the National Upgrading Support Programme (NUSP) was established with the primary objective of offering support to key stakeholders.
The National Upgrading Support Programme (NUSP) is an initiative of the National Department of Human Settlements (NDoHS), which is aimed at improving the practice of informal settlement upgrading in South Africa. The NUSP has four objectives:
Key Impact/Focus Areas:
What support does NUSP provide:
NUSP has three broad activity streams:
In pursuit of the informal settlement upgrading agenda, strategic institutional relationships are pursued.
HDA:
An important partner in providing technical support for upgrading under the coordination of the NUSP;
EPHP:
Provides for a process in which beneficiaries actively participate in decision-making over the housing process and housing product and make a contribution;
NUSP team working on a process with PHP to align their role to Phase 1 of UISP processes.
CSP:
Provide metros with technical and capacity support to scale up efforts to upgrade informal settlements as part of the Built Environment Performance Plan and NUSP Programme. The support to the metros will cover the following aspects of upgrading:
The DMO is the command centre of the Agency that provides overall operational co-ordination to the various core programmes of the Agency namely; Built Environment, National Programme Design and Management, Strategic Initiatives and Regions. It is also responsible for the management of the Technical Resource Centre of the Agency.
The Strategic Initiatives unit seeks to;
The NPD&M provides implementation support and improved capacity on the delivery of the national priority projects as identified by the National Department of Human Settlements (NDHS). The NPD&M develops plans and manages the implementation of those plans in line with the overall HDA strategy and national human settlements priorities. To this end the following national priority programmes are managed by NPD&M:
The Informal Settlements Upgrading Programme (ISUP) is a NDHS programme that seeks to upgrade the living conditions of people where they are settled. This Programme is aimed at the in situ upgrading of informal settlements utilising existing land and infrastructure to provide secure tenure and access to basic services as well as formal housing and related amenities where possible. In circumstances where the land is not suitable for human habitation, residents may be relocated and settled elsewhere. Beneficiary communities are involved throughout the project cycle to bring about social cohesion and stability.
The National Urban Settlements Programme (NUSP) is designed to provide technical and capacity support to provinces and municipalities across the country for the implementation of the informal settlement upgrading in an incremental manner incorporating other housing programmes.
In line with the National Development Plan the Catalytic Projects Programme aims to develop high impact integrated and sustainable human settlements in well located land that promotes spatial targeting, social and economic integration and delivery at scale using different tenure options.
Revitalisation of the Distressed Mining Towns intervention was initiated to transform mining towns through the creation of sustainable human settlements. This will improve the socio-economic conditions of mine communities and labour sending areas and provide decent living conditions for mine workers. HDA would develop human settlements spatial transformation plans in order to align government planning and delivery processes and inform future developments in the mining towns and labour sending areas.
Government Employee Housing Scheme (GEHS) offers sustainable housing solutions to government employees and increase home-ownership among them.
The Built Environment business unit is primarily responsible for supporting the various programmes within the HDA, provinces and municipalities by identifying, acquiring, holding, packaging and developing land for human settlement development. Thus the business unit is responsible for a number of major activities within the human settlement development value chain.
The division comprises the following units:-
This unit is responsible for amongst others:-
The land acquisition unit is responsible for the facilitation of all acquisition and release of both Private and Public land required by the HDA, Provinces and/or Municipalities for human settlements development. To ensure that the land is suitable for development, the function includes identification and prioritisation of land for acquisition to the actual land acquisition and release and/or transfer of the land to stakeholders or qualifying beneficiaries. Some of its responsibilities include:-
In terms of Section 5(1) of the HDA’s Act, the Agency is able to hold acquired land prior to release for human settlements development. As and when the properties held by the Agency are not yet programmed for human settlements development or properties that are under development, such properties may be subjected to short-, medium- and long-term holding agreements.
The purpose of the land holding unit is to position the holding and management properties in a way that the service meets the mandate of the holding function as prescribed in the HDA Act, but more importantly, to ensure that the Agency does it in a manner that espouses best practice, and in doing so, adds value to the customer in meeting its human settlement development outcomes. Some of the sub-unit’s responsibilities include:-
This subunit is responsible for:-
In our endeavour to implement the key mandates, a number of critical knowledge products are developed and made available. The motivation for the knowledge products is to ensure that the key mandates are interpreted correctly and implementation unfolds accordingly. The challenge though is the vast amount of knowledge products that exist that speak to informal settlements upgrading approaches and methodologies. These products have been developed by stakeholders from the public sector, civil society, international agencies, academia, and private sector (not-for-profit) organisations and suit their specific needs and purposes.
It becomes imperative that the National Department of Human Settlements as the custodian for the UISP provides, amongst other leadership endeavours, strategic support and guidance on the interpretation of the UISP. Knowledge products matrix includes the following:
The context for the background is premised on the outcomes of the Rapid Appraisal of NUSP that was concluded in 2020 by the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit. The Rapid Appraisal focussed on the 2014-2019 MTSF period. The key findings included the following:
