South Africa

Manifestations

In South Africa, the homeless may live without houses; in substandard housing; in shacks or rooftop and pavement dwellings; in cardboard boxes; in hostel accommodations; in temporary (unorganized) shelters such as bus and railway stations, halls, and taxi ranks; and in organized city shelters.

Causes

Factors contributing to homelessness in South Africa include the past policy of apartheid, which was enforced through the following:

• Restrictive migration laws and the migrant labor system, which entrenched divisions between families and marginalized many African households, particularly women and children
• Residential segregation policies, which separated racial groups, leaving the majority of the African population to live in inadequate housing
• The Mines Act of 1911 and the Land Act of 1913, which excluded Africans from holding jobs in certain categories and from owning land. This pushed men to be wage laborers, further perpetuating poverty.
• The Homeland policy, which fragmented the traditional African family, resulting in social dislocation, which was manifested in social ills such as domestic violence, breakdown of relationships, alcohol dependence, drug abuse and violent behavior, and homelessness

Other factors contributing to homelessness include the following:

• Unemployment (about 85 percent of homeless people are unemployed) and poverty
• Poor access to decent and affordable housing
• Changing demographic structures, such as single parenthood (female-headed households) and child- and grandparent-headed households due to HIV/AIDS
• HIV/AIDS (4.7 million South Africans live with HIV/AIDS. Among the homeless population at least two of every five homeless persons are HIV positive.)

Initiatives

The 1994 National Housing White Paper and the 1997 Housing Act of South Africa reiterated security of tenure, reduction of homelessness, and provision of housing subsidies as the cornerstones of the government's approach to providing housing to people in need. The subsidy types are the following:

• Individual subsidy, which gives individuals access to housing on existing property or property not located in a project approved by a provincial housing development board
• Project-linked subsidy, which provides housing opportunities for individuals on an ownership basis within housing projects
• Consolidation subsidy, which benefits persons who received assistance from the state before the introduction of a World Bank housing subsidy program that provided lots or land or building and including infrastructures such as water, electricity, and sewage (services). Subsidies can be used for upgrading or building a structure.
• Institutional subsidy, which is available to social housing institutions that create affordable housing and secure tenure
• Relocation assistance, which provides an option to defaulting borrowers who are in arrears and cannot afford the option of rehabilitating mortgage loans
• Discount benefit scheme, which promotes home ownership among tenants of state-financed rental stock, including formal housing and rental stock
• Rural subsidy, which addresses informal land rights and ensures secure tenure

Most subsidies were delivered to poor people living in inadequate housing or squatter settlements. About 84 percent and 11 percent of these subsidies were project-linked and individual subsidies, respectively. No street homeless people have access to these housing and subsidy options. Rather, the Transitional Housing Programme and the Better Buildings [Page 529]Programme (parts of the Johannesburg innercity regeneration program) have been initiated by local government to address street homelessness. Transitional housing is meant to bridge the gap between the homeless and affordable housing in the inner city. It is a temporary accommodation (eighteen to twenty-four months). However, the Transitional Housing Program is being reviewed because of abuse. The buildings of the Better Buildings Programme are abandoned buildings owned by landlords who owe rents and are defaulting on taxes. (The programme was originally known as the “Bad Buildings” Programme.) The Johannesburg inner city has about 120 buildings of this type. They have been vandalized and invaded by homeless people. The city intends to acquire these buildings and renovate them to accommodate the homeless.

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