THE SOCIAL Housing Regulatory Authority wants to pull in the construction sector through proactive invitations to participate in empowerment deals to speed up the delivery of social housing projects, said SHRA chairperson Bathabile Dlamini.
He said a key component of such a programme should be to provide owners with a title deed, as that would make the homes financially viable for banks, and would also provide homeowners with collateral and security of ownership. However, the envisaged role of the private sector in capital financing of the social housing sector had not materialised to the extent expected.
However, while private sector involvement had been minimal, it had slowly increased over the past five years. Factors that curbed private investment included that investment decision makers did not have a thorough understanding of social housing and how to achieve the returns they required. Some investors were concerned that they could not protect
She said private investors, including other development agencies, needed greater clarity on the terms and conditions for equity withdrawal to properly calculate their likely returns.