|
Once settlements have been formally recognised and infrastructure is put in place, people feel secure enough to start investing in their dwellings.
The plan is to upgrade informal settlements by providing essential infrastructure and services
UNDER a recently adopted policy by the City, an initial 60 informal settlements around the city will be upgraded and formalised, with positive spin-offs for their residents.
"In summary, the policy states that, where possible, informal settlements will be upgraded in situ, ie where settlements are safely located and their location does not compromise the development objectives of the City (for example, they are not on a servitude required for high priority road development), they will be given some form of legal recognition, and also physically upgraded," says Philip Harrison, the executive director of development planning and urban management.
He explains that the traditional approach to the formalisation of informal settlements was complex and time-consuming; the new policy helps to fast-track regularisation of these settlements. It is also in line with the City's principles of proactive absorption of the poor and settlement restructuring.
There are 180 informal settlements in Johannesburg, containing 180 000 households - more than 25 percent of its four million people. At Joburg's present rate of growth, some 90 000 new dwelling units will be needed each year. It is anticipated that only a third can be met through current delivery methods, which means that formalising existing informal settlements will help to provide fast and affordable accommodation.
In addition, residents of informal settlements remain illegal, depriving them of the usual rights of access to the city and its benefits. Once settlements have been formally recognised and infrastructure put in place, people will feel sufficiently secure to start investing in their dwellings.
"It is significant that, in Brazil, favelas began as precarious settlements with cardboard and tin dwellings but with an increased sense of permanence and legal security, residents upgraded their dwellings and most ... are now brick and concrete," adds Harrison.
A favela is a slum or shantytown, a feature of Brazilian towns where similar mass migration to the cities resulted in large informal settlements springing up.
It is widely recognised that informal housing is the first step up the formal housing ladder, especially for new urban residents. The new policy also hopes to address the Millennium Development Goal of eradicating informal settlements by 2014.
The formalisation process has already begun, and it is hoped that the 60 settlements will be completed in the next financial year.
Land Use Management Bill
This is despite the recent tabling of a bill, the Land Use Management Bill, which is before Parliament's agriculture and land affairs committee. The object of the bill is to create a uniform national policy for the regulation of land use with the intention of eradicating apartheid settlement patterns, at the same time improving service delivery to these areas.
One of the major concerns is that it may curb municipal and provincial powers when it comes to managing land and its settlement.
Harrison says the long-awaited bill is welcomed, as it has many positive aspects, although there are areas of "concern and disappointment". His major objection to the bill is that it doesn't include mechanisms to assist with the regularisation of informal settlements. At present it is possible for provinces to legislate their own set of procedures.
"[The bill] doesn't address existing legislation and new Acts and Ordinances ... The roles of the different spheres of government are not adequately clarified. The role of spatial policy is underplayed. Environmental management and development planning procedures remain separate."
Positive aspects include the appointment of land use regulators, while the "Constitutional principle for provinces to ‘assist, facilitate, support and strengthen the capacity' is confirmed in the bill".
"The White Paper promised a single piece of enabling legislation with common processes. The bill is not clear how the Land Use Management Bill will co-exist with existing national and provincial legislation."
Meanwhile, the new bill has been amended by the parliamentary committee, says Harrison, and will be debated in the National Assembly next week. It's likely, he believes, that the amendment will give premiers powers to make special provisions for fast-tracking formalisation of settlements.
Two tools
The City is implementing its new policy by means of two tools: the rezoning of informal settlements in terms of its town planning schemes; and formalising the settlements through the provisions of the Development Facilitation Act (DFA) of 1995.
The new land use bill will repeal the DFA but the City will push for the retention of the provisions which allow for fast-tracking mechanisms in the formalisation of settlements. "The City will take an inclusive, consultative approach and the DFA provides the mechanism to do this."
The City will adopt a consultative approach, stresses Harrison.
Rezoning will recognise residents by issuing them with occupation permits that will indicate their dwelling on a detailed layout plan indicating land uses. This will allow the "Special for Transitional Residential Settlements" zoning.
Social and community facilities, business services, access to the settlement, and density and minimum sizes of structures for human occupation and use will also be identified on the plan. Structures will be restricted to one main dwelling and one subsidiary "backyard" unit per site. If the owner wishes to use the site for alternatives uses, permission must be obtained. A register of owners is to be kept.
The permit allows occupants limited rights to occupy their site and pass it on to their heirs once the full township processes are completed, but does not allow the site to be sold. Work on these processes will continue at the same time as formalisation is ongoing.
There is also a rental option allowed for under the DFA, for those residents who don't want full ownership but do want security of tenure and protection of their limited rights.
Informal Settlement Unit
The City will set up the Informal Settlement Programme, with an Informal Settlement Unit, which has "the potential to improve the lives of over half a million residents".
Some 180 000 households live in 180 informal settlements in Johannesburg
It will consist of a number of professionals, like land surveyors, town planners, civil engineers and project managers, whose task it will be to identify land parcels with occupants; provide education on tenure rights and land use management; prepare the township register; undertake the rezoning; and give support in complying with building regulations and safety and health regulations.
The implementation of the new policy will take up to two years, with rezoning taking up to nine months for approval. The project is set to begin with informal settlements in Region A in the far north, and Region G, the southernmost reaches of the city.
"As new approaches are being tested here, there needs to be acknowledgement that the programme will need to be flexible to accommodate improvements as projects are piloted," Harrison says.
"Cognisance must also be taken of the capacity within the City, notwithstanding a dedicated unit. It is important that the programme be well-run and achieve its objectives efficiently and should become a best practice approach that other cities can learn from."
Costs come in at R5-million a year for the unit, and R20 000 to establish each settlement stand.
Related stories:
|
