Challenges to low-cost housing delivery in Ratlou local municipality : the study of Makgobistad village

Abstract

This study examines the challenges affecting low-cost housing delivery in the Ratlou Local Municipality, focusing on Makgobistad village. This study applied a qualitative research approach in which semi-structured interviews and researcher-administered questionnaires were conducted with 20 participants, comprising both males and females aged 18 years and above. Purposeful sampling was used to select key informants from Ratlou Local Municipality, Department of Human Settlements, and Makgobistad Traditional Council. A total of 15 community members were identified through snowballing. The study findings revealed that several challenges continue to hamper the provision of housing. For example, the housing application requirements such as possession of identity documents have marginalised people living on the farms without the identity documents. Also, the income threshold criteria have side-lined people who earn slightly above the R3500.00 household income threshold. Further to that, the administration's inadequacies in identifying relevant beneficiaries reverse the backlog and birth the social conflicts witnessed in the community. The current housing processes have alienated the community, traditional authority, and the municipality from participating in the housing processes as the DoHS adopted a top-down development approach. Findings further highlighted that there are no operational systems in place that outline and describe quality assurance in the building of the houses. As a result, the poor quality of the houses led to the recipients’ dissatisfaction. Equally, lack of cooperation by the head of the traditional authority presents a barrier to access land for housing developments. Furthermore, push factors such as poor quality of delivered houses and lack of employment in the community have resulted in non-occupancy and abandoned allocated houses. The need for a comprehensive approach with multi-stakeholder at the centre was identified as a necessary driver of low-cost housing delivery in Makgobistad village. Thus, the study recommends prioritising and involving all relevant stakeholders in planning any housing development projects. Also, to mitigate quality concerns, a collective stakeholder assessment of the project progress in which contractors building the houses are monitored, and the quality is evaluated against set standards as prescribed by the National Home Builders Registration Council is suggested. In this regard, such approaches will safeguard the problem of transparency in housing procedures and maintain the quality of delivered houses.