Inclusionary housing developments : towards addressing inequalities and segregation patterns in South African residential neighbourhoods : a case study of Cosmo City, Johannesburg.

Abstract

This dissertation assesses the effectiveness of inclusionary housing in South Africa, as a tool to reduce spatial segregation and inequalities in residential neighbourhoods. To date, South Africa has spatial inequalities and residential segregation across neighbourhoods, distinguished by race and class, characterised as ‘exclusionary housing’. Low income people live on the peripheries of urban areas with substandard housing, inadequate services and a lack of employment and other socio-economic opportunities, while the middle and higher income people live in well-developed urban areas with good housing, services and opportunities. This phenomenon is a result of the colonial and apartheid eras where the white minority marginalised the non-white majority by stripping them of all land rights and enforcing segregation laws that made people live in separate areas which were determined on the basis of one’s race. These laws were unjust and inequitable. After South Africa achieved democracy, post-1994; the then new democratic government made attempts to redress the wrongs of the past. However, such redress has been at a slow rate. New housing policies were introduced to promote integration and socio-economic inclusion, such as the Housing White Paper of 1994, the Breaking New Ground policy of 2004, and thereafter the Inclusionary Housing Policy of 2007. These three policies are discussed in this dissertation as they were designed with the purpose of redressing the problems of segregation and inequalities in South African neighbourhoods by promoting integration and socio-economic equality, which is the basis for inclusionary housing that is the key theme of this dissertation. Inclusionary housing is housing that incorporates different income groups, with different housing typologies to cater for the different income groups, all in one development, while providing the same standard of basic services and facilities for all. Inclusionary housing promotes integration and social inclusion, as well as creates many opportunities for the low income, such as employment and an improved livelihood. In South Africa, inclusionary housing was implemented for the first time in 2004, in a development called Cosmo City, situated north-west of Johannesburg. By using Cosmo City inclusionary housing development as a case study, this dissertation assesses the effectiveness of inclusionary housing as a tool to reduce spatial segregation and inequalities inherited from the past and which persist post- 1994. This assessment was enabled from the analysis of research conducted in the form of interviews with key stakeholders and informants in the Cosmo City inclusionary housing development, questionnaire surveys with beneficiaries from the three different income groups in Cosmo City, and field observations, as well as various bodies of literature pertaining to housing policy and inclusionary housing, in the context of South Africa. International examples in the practice of inclusionary housing and IHP, namely USA and China, is used to display how the mixing of income groups function in their housing environment and what level of success was achieved. The study’s findings display that Cosmo City inclusionary housing development is a thriving community that has RDP, partially subsidised, and fully bonded houses in one area. It was found further that there are basic services and facilities provided for all, as well as directly and indirectly created employment opportunities resulting from business and industrial sectors created within the area, as well as from nearby surrounding areas. The research concludes that inclusion within Cosmo City was largely achieved through delivering inclusionary housing in line with the objectives found in IHP and principles of inclusionary housing. The poor are integrated with the higher income and closer to urban areas, and have had their livelihoods vastly improved. Recommendations are made for better achievement of inclusionary housing and IHP goals, in particular, the location of inclusionary housing developments can be improved by making land more accessible within urban areas, and careful consideration must be taken regarding the mix of housing typologies in a development in order to get the recovery rate ideal for long-term financial sustainability and viability of a development. Inclusionary housing can, to a large degree, be responsible for reducing spatial segregation and inequalities in South African residential neighbourhoods.