Alternative Tenure Options Available To House The Homeless In South Africa: The Case For Not Providing Access To Ownership Of Freehold Property To People Requiring Government Funded Housing

One of the most serious challenges facing South Africa as a developing country is the number of homeless people who currently do not have access to housing opportunities. The institutionalized policy of apartheid in South Africa during the period 1948 to 1994 created not only segregation based upon race, but also inequalities and inefficiencies in terms of access to economic opportunities. This has no doubt had as a consequence the high rate of unemployment that South Africa is currently experiencing. Many people are reliant on Government assistance in order to obtain access to housing. Such assistance either takes the form of receiving free give-away housing or subsidized funding provided by the Government. A high percentage of South Africaís annual budget is spent on housing programmes. Most of South Africaís housing programmes focus on encouraging people to own their own freehold property. Community based housing schemes sponsored by government in South Africa, like social housing, have largely failed, unlike in many European countries and countries like the US. Although one can naturally understand Governmentís vision of eventually eradicating homelessness, the question that needs to be posed is whether or not South Africa as a country can afford both financially and politically to continue its pursuit of current housing policies. The research for this paper was undertaken in order to: ï Provide an overview of the South African Governmentís current housing policy; ï Research the views and perceptions of a sample of people who would be the beneficiaries of Governmentís policy; ï Apply the principles that have made social housing schemes in European countries successful to the South African environment; ï Suggest alternative tenure options available to Government to house people other than providing access to the ownership of freehold property.