City of Johannesburg officials met with property developers and members of the public this week to provide feedback on public comments to its proposed inclusionary housing policy.

Published in February, the proposed policy aims to make the provision of quality low-cost housing within all new residential complex developments a compulsory requirement.

It aims to do this by making it mandatory for every new development of 10 dwelling units or more to include 20% inclusionary housing.

The City proposed that, when managed privately, inclusionary housing should cater for households with an income of R7,000 or less per month, or should fit into published social housing bands.

As per the meeting last week, two management options for inclusionary units are proposed:

Social housing – by a registered social housing institution. Private ownership and management by the building owner or body corporate – with rents capped at R2,100 per month in accordance with 2018 prices (whilst also allowing for inflationary increases).

To get buy-in from business, the city has proposed incentives which include proportional bonuses in development controls, reduction in parking requirements, reductions in parks and bulk infrastructure contributions, and a rates rebate for the inclusionary units.

Speaking about the proposal, executive mayor, Herman Mashaba said it was necessary for the city to take this route because the majority of the residents living in Johannesburg earned too little to afford high rentals associated with many of the developments springing up.

“This is especially so when one considers that, in Johannesburg, 50% of households earn less than R3,543 a month, while 40% earn less than R2,487,” he said.

“A third of the residents of the City earn less than R2,224 a month, with the remaining 25% earning less than R1,751 a month.”

According to the policy, inclusionary housing units must be located on the same site or within the same township as the remainder of the residential units being developed.

They must include:

A private bathroom;

At least 7 square metres of habitable space per person (and measure no less than 15 square metres);

Have the same outward appearance as the other residential units; and

Share common spaces and facilities as well as access thereto.

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