CHAPTER FIVE

ISIDIMA: CREATING DIGNIFIED COMMUNITIES

Warren Smith

1. Introduction
The Western Cape Department of Local Government and Housings Isidima Strategy is intended to contribute towards the creation of sustainable human settlements in the Western Cape. The strategy is a much-needed advance on the previous narrow technocratic focus on building RDP houses. The six key components of the strategy are discussed below, with a brief overview of the departments progress in laying the foundations for the implementation of the strategy. Three key issues are highlighted: the importance of developing a more nuanced understanding of housing need, developing new imaginaries of what sustainable human settlements are, and the need to mobilise additional financial resources for an increased level of delivery.

2. The human settlements challenge

The human settlements challenges in the Western Cape are enormous. Official housing backlog figures (which show the numbers of households that have been unable to access secure tenure, adequate access to basic services and/or adequate shelter without state support) are conventionally used to measure the scale of the problem. Although the concept of a housing backlog is deeply flawed,1 backlog figures can help give an approximate sense of the scale of the challenge. In 2001, there were an estimated 316 000 households living in inadequate housing conditions in the Western Cape.2 By 2007 this had increased to an estimated 410 000 households, and this figure was estimated to be growing by between 2% and 3% per year.3 The challenges are both considerable and complex. Households (which themselves are fluid and often have complicated linkages with other households) have complex livelihood strategies which have enormous implications for their human settlement needs (for example, in the case of home-based enterprises or circulatory migration patterns between urban and rural areas).4 There have been limited financial resources available to address these challenges. A total of 226 443 subsidised houses were delivered in the Western Cape during the 14-year period from April 1993 to March 2008, equivalent to only about 55% of the current estimated housing backlog. The housing subsidy funding allocated to the province for 2008/09 is R1,4 billion, enough to deliver about 19 000 units, and a similar number of units are planned for 2009/10. Assuming these levels of delivery are maintained (and assuming all low-income houses delivered are suitably located, affordable, well-built and not overcrowded, and in good quality urban environments), the 2007 housing backlog, excluding any new demand after 2007, will only be addressed in about 21.5 years time (i.e. by 2029).

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Apart from the fact that housing delivery has not been sufficient to decrease the housing backlog, there have been serious problems with the nature of much of the housing provided through the RDP mode of delivery that prevailed during the first decade of democracy in South Africa. For example, the Public Service Commissions evaluation of the Housing Subsidy Scheme highlighted the problems of poor location, poor quality housing and the unsustainable urban environments that have been created.5 Similarly, a study commissioned by the National Department of Housing found that many new housing projects seem to be unsustainable in the long term.6 In particular, the location of many projects is problematic: despite widespread recognition of the need to restructure and densify the inefficient and inequitable spatial patterns of South African cities and towns, many municipalities continue to facilitate new low-cost housing on the urban periphery.7 The institutional context for human settlements development is also extremely complex, involving numerous departments at all levels of government, as well as many government set-up agencies, the private sector and civil society. A Byzantine web of policies, strategies, programmes, subsidy instruments and regulations relates to human settlements.

3. The Isidima Strategy

The Western Cape Department of Local Government and Housings Isidima Strategy8 (subtitled the road map to dignified communities) is the sustainable human settlements strategy for the province. The strategy, which applies the national Breaking New Ground (BNG) policy framework to the province, was formally launched in June 2007, and a detailed implementation plan was subsequently developed. The first (three-year) phase of Isidima involves gearing up the institutional capacity to implement the strategy, and developing a more sophisticated understanding of the instruments and their assemblage through a series of lead and pilot projects, while the subsequent phases will involve the rolling out of the strategy by a reshaped institution using reshaped instruments.9 The creation of sustainable human settlements is the overarching theme of the Isidima Strategy. The goal of the strategy is that all citizens and residents live in vibrant, safe, efficient and sustainable human settlements that are able to grow and absorb everyone who chooses to live in the Western Cape, in particular poor households who do not have access to housing opportunities.10 The purpose of the strategy is to ensure that those human settlement interventions aimed at achieving the goal will indeed create an environment that allows the citizens and residents of the Western Cape to constructively engage with the state in order to access a wide range of services, facilities and benefits that can satisfy their fundamental human needs without degrading the eco-systems they depend on.11 The Isidima Strategy consists of a number of components which are collectively intended to achieve the above goal and purpose: Using a multiplicity of instruments to ensure that everyone is able to live in sustainable human settlements Making housing markets work for the poor Release of strategic parcels of state-owned land to restructure cities and towns Environmental sustainability Community empowerment Institutional enhancement. These components are discussed below.

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3.1 Multiplicity of instruments to create sustainable human settlements

One of the key thrusts of the Isidima Strategy is to move away from the mindset that equates pro-poor housing solutions with periphalised greenfield developments to recognising that the state needs to have at its disposal a multiplicity of instruments that build assets and achieve width immediately and depth incrementally (capital subsidies, rental housing, social housing, landlord support/tenant protection, gap housing, in situ upgrades, urban renewal via interventions in the land and property markets, land banking, development levies on for-profit developments, etc.) so that it can respond in contextually specific ways rather than assume that one-size-fits-all.12 Accordingly, Objective 1 of the Isidima Strategy is that Citizens of the Western Cape who live in a variety of different situations are aware of and can easily access a wide range of housing services and instruments that can assist them to participate in the development of a sustainable human settlement of their choice.13 The Isidima Strategy suggests a mix of interventions, using current and proposed subsidy mechanisms, with the overall intention of ensuring that the poor are fully integrated into our towns and cities, that we move away from the dualistic housing market, and that densities do not drop below 25 [dwelling units per hectare].14 The proposed key Isidima interventions (with departmental delivery targets for 2008/09 to 2010/11, where applicable15) are: Incremental upgrading of informal settlements through the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme (UISP) and Peoples Housing Process (PHP) programmes; the target for the next three years is to assist 10 000 beneficiaries per year through UISP . Incremental housing in greenfield developments (from low-density freestanding houses to higher density row housing), ideally in mixed-use and socially mixed developments on welllocated land. The target for the next three years is to assist 12 000 beneficiaries per year through the Project Linked Subsidy/Integrated Residential Development Programme (for the Integrated Residential Programme, serviced sites will be provided in the first phase, and housing consolidation will follow in a second phase). Social housing units on well-located land or within renovated premises, located in mixeduse and socially mixed developments (again in a range from low density to high density row housing). Rental units in high- to very high-density developments, located mainly in the inner urban cores and/or in mixed-use and socially mixed developments. Backyard rental programme (either formalising backyard rental through capital subsidies and loans to landlords for upgrading the rental accommodation, or through providing greater security of tenure to backyard tenants in some other way, e.g. subdivision). The target for the backyard rental programme, which will commence in 2009, is to provide subsidies to 1 000 beneficiaries per year in 2009/10 and 2010/11. Gap housing, which can be defined as housing for households who fall between the maximum income threshold for conventional housing subsidies and the typical minimum income threshold for conventional mortgage finance, i.e. households in the R3 501 to approximately R10 000 per month income bracket. The Finance-Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP), intended to supplement affordable mortgage loans from banks, is targeted at the lower end of the gap market (households in the R3 501 to R7 000 per month income bracket); there is a target of 250 beneficiaries per year for the next three years. The Isidima Strategy also makes mention of programmes to meet other categories of need, for example, agri-villages and special needs housing (handicapped, orphans, elderly, etc).16 Thirteen Lead and Pilot Projects are at the forefront of the implementation of the Isidima Strategy (although some of these are still in the very early stages). The Lead and Pilot Projects are potentially important as ways of exploring new approaches to creating sustainable human settlements. A number of the projects test approaches to mixed-income development. The Dido Valley project near Simonstown, for example, is intended to consist of 968 units, of which

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588 will be subsidised units, 170 will be gap housing units and 210 will be conventional market units. The proposed Somerset West 10-hectare project (390 units) will also consist of a mix of subsidised, gap and conventional market units. The Kleinmond project, in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology, tests various innovative environmentally sustainable technologies. The Grabouw Sustainable Development Initiative is particularly noteworthy, as it focuses on a participatory local process for decision-making related to sustainable urban development. Through this process a holistic development plan for Grabouw has been developed.17 Over and above the Lead and Pilot Projects, the department has developed sustainability criteria for the selection and approval of new projects to ensure that all new human settlements projects in the province will comply with the principles of the Isidima Strategy. The criteria include: community involvement from the early stages of the planning process; the promotion of economic activity; optimal use of space and existing infrastructure; ecologically sensitive settlement design; the promotion of social and spatial integration; and location (i.e. the location of projects within ten kilometres of an economic hub, primary school and primary health care clinic).18

3.2 Making housing markets work for the poor

One of the most radical shifts in the Isidima Strategy is the shift from a focus on projects for the poor to the housing system as a whole.19 One of the four outcomes proposed by the strategy is making housing markets work for the poor,20 and objective 4 of the strategy is: a functioning property market across both economies and an enabling environment for agents and institutions who want to design and implement sustainable human settlements in accordance with the [Isidima] approach.21 The intention is to work with the markets to increase total supply of housing products across market bands (GASH,22 [gap], rental, subsidized) and spatial forms (inner city, backyard, greenfields, in situ upgrading, etc).23 This will be done through the use of new planning and development control instruments to restructure the market (for example, density bonuses to promote densification, and an inclusionary housing policy) and targeting public infrastructure investment and upgrading to promote densification along public transport nodes and routes.24 The strategy also mentions interventions to protect the poor from a range of rent-seeking and market dynamics.25 Looking at the housing system as a whole is an important conceptual leap from the previous approach, and using urban land use regulations to encourage higher density, mixed-use, mixedincome developments is essential (for example, through granting density/height/bulk/coverage bonuses and/or rebates on rates or bulk infrastructure levies for private developers providing a certain percentage of affordable housing units). However, it should be recognised that the conventional housing development market in South Africa is relatively small, and the number of affordable housing units encouraged through incentives and regulations will thus also be relatively small (and these units are likely to be for the upper part of the gap market rather than the poor).26 The Isidima Strategy recognises the importance of gaining a better understanding of the land and housing market as a precondition for successful interventions. In terms of the Isidima implementation plan, the major planned activity in the short term is to conduct research into land and property markets in the Western Cape. In the long term, ongoing monitoring of the land and housing markets in the province is required. The Isidima Strategy proposes that a research programme will be established in partnership with universities to monitor land and property markets, including livelihood networks and the dynamics of informalisation, the dynamics of the informal housing market, the rental sector in backyards as well as in townships and shack settlements, and data from home loan disclosures.27 Urban LandMark, an organisation dedicated to working with various stakeholders to make urban land markets work for the poor, is working with three municipalities in the Western

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Cape to develop and test new approaches to land use management. Urban LandMarks view is that in order to implement meaningful change, land use management systems need to work effectively and efficiently for those who arbitrate urban development and for those who want to access land.28 It is important that the attempts to develop and test new approaches to land use management are documented and learned from.

3.3 Release of strategic parcels of state-owned land

Although there have been some attempts to use well-located state-owned land for restructuring the apartheid patterns of South African cities and towns, there are still significant parcels of well-located vacant or underused state-owned land, especially in Cape Town. To counter this, the Isidima Strategy has Objective 6: state land and other resources are used for spatial restructuring, with direct and indirect benefits for the poor.29 A key part of the detailed plan is to:

Identify 25 parcels of well located publicly owned urban land across the Province, which can be designated as [Isidima] lead projects... The projects must demonstrate social integration and sustainable resource use, and they must be completed in three years from date of approval by the municipality.30
Thus far the department has completed a list of suitable public and privately owned land (and publicly owned buildings) in the province and has developed a policy on the release of stateowned land. The proposed 25 parcels of state-owned land have been identified. The target for the number of housing units to be built through the release of state-owned land is 500 units in 2008/09, 1 000 in 2009/10 and 1 500 in 2010/11.31 It is still intended to undertake research on the private land market and establish a land banking programme for municipalities (to assist municipalities to acquire land for the implementation of their human settlements plans). It is important that the release and development of state-owned land is aligned to municipal Spatial Development Frameworks, and that the development of such land needs to contribute towards the restructuring and economic development of each specific city or town. The vacant parcels of state-owned land in central Cape Town, such as the Culemborg site, are particularly significant in terms of urban restructuring.32

3.4 Environmental sustainability

One of the four intended outcomes of the Isidima Strategy is gradually changing over to sustainable resource-use approaches (energy, waste, water, sanitation, transportation and food supplies).33 Objective 8 of the strategy is that:

the Western Capes towns and cities become global leaders in sustainable resource use by making sure that all new buildings, infrastructure and open spaces are planned in accordance with ecological design principles, and that owners of existing buildings (in particular public sector owners) respond to incentives to retrot their buildings in accordance with these principles.34
In a context of rapid resource depletion, it is essential that environmental sustainability is incorporated in human settlements planning. One of the biggest failures of the first decade of housing delivery in democratic South Africa was the lack of attention paid to environmental sustainability, energy efficiency and alternative materials a survey of 40 housing subsidy projects across the country found that environmental concerns had been ignored in virtually all of them, mainly because of cost.35 The densification and compaction of cities and towns is a particularly important aspect of environmental sustainability, both in terms of reducing the

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ecological footprint and in terms of facilitating more sustainable modes of transport such as walking and cycling. Greater awareness of climate change, and the implications of this for the planning and design of housing, neighbourhoods and settlements, is also important. In terms of the Isidima implementation plan, research relating to construction and energy alternatives is planned, and it is proposed to develop provincial green building regulations. It is also important for guidelines for sustainable neighbourhood and settlement planning to be developed. There is a wealth of relevant skills and experience in the Western Cape, and these organisations and individuals need to be drawn on.

3.5 Community empowerment

One of the cornerstones of the Isidima Strategy is community empowerment, to create an environment that allows the citizens and residents of the Western Cape to constructively engage with the state in order to access a wide range of services, facilities and benefits that can satisfy their fundamental human needs.36 Linked to this, Objective 7 of the Isidima Strategy states: a new pact is consolidated between Government and organised civil society to build up over time the trust, reciprocity and development practices required to imagine, design and implement vibrant sustainable neighbourhoods.37 The most important proposals in this regard are that all subsidised human settlement developments utilise participatory planning (spatial, land use, design) and construction methodologies and that a protocol with a supporting manual that defines the minimum standard required for community participation in all subsidised housing projects will be developed.38 Participation is an essential precondition in creating sustainable human settlements as noted in the overview of case studies conducted as part of the process of formulating the Isidima Strategy.

It is noticeable that the projects that best met the needs of beneciaries all had a high level of participation by beneciaries from the very inception of the project and in all phases of the project, including the planning and design processes.39
Increasing evidence in the natural sciences, public health, and urban planning show that expert assessments can miss important contextual information, and it is important that lay knowledge be considered alongside expert judgments, and that the incomplete models of the technically literate not be mistaken for the sum total of reality.40 Although there is experience with participatory construction methodologies in South Africa, participatory planning processes have been relatively rare. Different approaches to participatory planning in different types of projects and contexts therefore need to be tested in practice and, if they are successful, adopted. The department intends to form a pact to partner with those CBOs and social movements that have the will and capacity to collaboratively design and implement human settlement projects and which can demonstrate that they can mobilize and manage savings and loans, negotiate agreements, gather information required for community action planning, manage finances, facilitate housing subsidy applications and disbursements, and manage and store building materials.41 In this regard, the Isidima Human Settlement Summit in February 2008 was attended by many civil society organisations in the province. Other important suggestions are that the department should make available a fund that can be used by the civil formations that are part of the above mentioned pact to train and sustain grassroots community organisers who will be accountable for making happen the various community action planning and savings strategies that will be required and that the department should establish mechanisms for fast-tracking the transfer of subsidies to accredited CBO- and NGO-based development finance institutions.42 While increasing partnerships with civil society organisations for delivery is a very positive move, and extending access to micro-finance is essential, there is perhaps too narrow a focus

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on a particular type of civil society organisation that uses a specific methodology (savings-based mobilisation). While the Shack/Slum Dwellers International-type savings-based mobilisation approach can be a very successful way of helping create sustainable human settlements, it remains a model that emerged in very particular cultural-historical circumstances, and when a grassroots methodology is elevated to a generic mode of social intervention, it potentially runs into problems.43 There should preferably be recognition of, and support for, a range of different types of civil society organisations with different methodologies to be involved in the creation of sustainable human settlements. This should include space for civil society organisations that are not narrowly focused on implementation. Although the Isidima Strategy implies that it is necessary for CBOs and NGOs to make the transition from a rights-based protest mode to a post-apartheid developmental mode that requires a different mind-set and strategy,44 it has been argued elsewhere that these two modes are not mutually exclusive, as human settlements development is not a smooth, consensual, largely technocratic process.45 Implementing participatory approaches to human settlements development in practice is likely to be a challenge. Numerous policy documents have highlighted the importance of participation, but considerable capacity-building of practitioners will be necessary to turn this into routine practice. The Isidima Strategy document suggests that there should be an orientation and education programme for [departmental] and municipal staff to build up an understanding of community-based development practice, and it is important that this be followed up.46 Although some communities may already be well capacitated, capacity building of communities may also sometimes be necessary the Isidima implementation states the intention to train community organisations in community action planning and savings strategies, and it is important that this is also followed up (in partnership with suitable organisations).47

3.6 Institutional enhancement

Three of the objectives relate to government and the way that government works: ensuring that all intergovernmental policies, plans and budgets that are related to human settlement development are aligned horizontally and vertically, ensuring that the institutional arrangements and capabilities of relevant provincial departments are built to effectively design and implement the strategy, and undertaking sustained municipal capacity building for delivery.48 Two key aspects are intergovernmental cooperation and capacity development.

3.6.1 Intergovernmental cooperation

Intergovernmental cooperation is essential; there needs to be synergy between what national government, provincial government and local government are doing. Addressing the housing challenge requires changes in the national housing policy framework, allocation of sufficient resources by the national government and the formulation and implementation of effective human settlements strategies at the local level by municipalities. How different departments and different spheres of government work together is crucial. An inter-departmental task team has been set up, and it is important that all parties are committed to making this work. Cooperation between the Western Cape Department of Local Government and Housing and the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Planning is particularly important, as they are the two provincial departments largely responsible for issues related to human settlements development. In addition, it will be necessary for the department to cooperate with the new Housing Development Agency (HDA), which is a national agency intended to identify, acquire, hold, develop and release land for the creation of sustainable human settlements. Cooperation with municipalities is also essential, especially with the City of Cape Town, which accounts for 66% of the population of the province.49 This cooperation needs to take place through the formal processes and structures of the intergovernmental relations framework, but needs to focus on finding practical solutions to problems.

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Creating an enabling environment at national level is an essential precondition for the success of the Isidima Strategy. The two key aspects of this are revising the Housing Subsidy Scheme so there is a greater range of subsidy instruments (for example, options for single people and extended families) and reforming the land registration and transfer system to make it more appropriate to the needs of the poor (for example, by providing cheaper, more flexible tenure options and by ensuring greater intra-household security of tenure).

3.6.2 Capacity development

The Built Environment Support Programme, a joint initiative with the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, assists under-capacitated municipalities to develop and implement integrated human settlement strategies that help ensure efficient property markets which provide for a range of housing needs and affordability levels, particularly better access by the poor to affordable and well-located land and housing. In the first phase, six municipalities in the Western Cape are being assisted with developing Spatial Development Frameworks and five-year Human Settlements Plans (as part of their Integrated Development Plans). Currently the focus of the Built Environment Support Programme is on assisting municipalities produce plans, but the next stage will concentrate on the implementation of plans, and the monitoring and evaluation of the implementation process. The Isidima Strategy is based on three major mindset changes. As part of the capacitybuilding process for provincial and municipal staff, it will be necessary to internalise these mindset changes. The mindset change required for facilitating community empowerment will be a particular challenge; the Isidima Strategy suggests that there be a programme for staff aimed at building an understanding of community-based development, and that this is extremely important. Another challenge is to be able to incorporate long-term incremental approaches to informal settlement upgrading and greenfield developments within a rapidly changing institutional context with planning and budget cycles that are usually not longer than three to five years.

4. Key issues
The Isidima Strategy is a comprehensive strategy that highlights many key issues that are crucial for the development of sustainable human settlements, such as capacity development of municipalities and provincial departments, intergovernmental cooperation, community participation and environmental sustainability. Learning from the Lead and Pilot Projects, and the adoption of the sustainability criteria, will also help to make the shift from the previous model of RDP housing projects on the urban periphery towards the new focus on sustainable human settlements. In addition to the issues already highlighted in the Isidima Strategy, there are three key issues which ideally also need to be prioritised: Understanding the nature of housing need in a more nuanced way Developing new imaginaries to replace previous models of human settlements development Mobilising additional financial resources.

4.1 Better understanding of housing need

A shift is needed away from a monolithic housing backlog figure towards a more nuanced understanding of the different types of housing need, of the diverse nature of households and of urban-rural and intra-urban movement. A better understanding of the diversity of need will facilitate allocation processes that recognise different types of housing needs and are able to respond more effectively to the diversity of household needs. This has already started happening

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 there are plans to reconceptualise the way in which housing demand data is collected and updated, and to submit it to more intensive analysis. The department is also in the process of developing guidelines to ensure that municipalities have beneficiary selection policies that ensure an adequate balance between different types of housing needs; for example, people living in backyards and/or overcrowded conditions and those living in informal settlements.

4.2 Developing new imaginaries

One of the key thrusts of the Isidima Strategy is to develop new imaginaries, or practical visions, of what sustainable human settlements are, in order to replace the stereotype of the sterile RDP housing settlement on the urban periphery. The Lead and Pilot Projects are good places to start in attempting to do this, as the new imaginaries need to be based on real experience in local contexts. It is therefore essential that these projects are evaluated and learned from, and resources need to be set aside for this. (The World Bank experience is that the average cost of a comprehensive project evaluation, including a household survey, is about 0.6% of the total project cost).50 The Isidima strategy highlights the importance of incorporating environmental sustainability and participatory planning and design into the new approach, but there are also other issues that need to grappled with in developing new imaginaries. These include incrementalism, implementing mixed-income developments, achieving higher residential densities, the linkage of human settlements and health, and understanding the complexities of location. Incrementalism is important. It is a way of achieving width in delivery in the short term while still facilitating depth of delivery in the long term; it is amenable to participatory processes; and it can result in more organic living environments than one-off projects. Various incremental approaches to informal settlement upgrading and greenfield development need to be developed and tested. For example, the essentials that need to be provided upfront by the state; the things that can be provided later; the essentials that communities/households need support for immediately; and the things communities/households will need support for in the longer term. The upfront essentials are likely to include some form of security of tenure, some form of access to water supply and sanitation, and access to essential services such as education and primary health care. However, the ways in which these essentials are provided, and the ways in which they are upgraded, extended and added to in different types of projects need to be explored. The intention of the Isidima Strategy is to promote the kind of social mix that is so crucial for long-term social stability.51 In effect what this means is implementing mixedincome developments. In practice, however, mixed-income housing has proven to be extremely difficult to implement in South Africa, as pioneering attempts like Westlake Village demonstrate.52 Even where integration of different socioeconomic groups has occurred, research suggests that residential desegregation does not necessarily mean social integration automatically follows.53 Nonetheless, it is essential that different approaches to creating mixed-income developments continue to be tested in practice (as has already started happening with some of the Isidima Lead and Pilot Projects). The layout and design of mixed-income developments are particularly important to ensure that the low-income units are not segregated and stigmatised within a project.54 The need to achieve higher residential densities is explicitly acknowledged in the Isidima Strategy, and it is proposed that all projects will have a gross residential density of more than 25 dwelling units per hectare, and that developers will be encouraged to include buildings with higher densities, such as row housing and blocks of flats. The importance of achieving appropriate densities cannot be overemphasised viable public transportation and the provision of facilities within walking distance of all residents are only possible if planned residential densities are high enough. In Chile, for example, which has a similar housing policy to South Africa, all subsidised housing is provided in the form of semi-detached units, row housing or blocks of flats, with gross residential densities of between 50 and 200 dwelling units per

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hectare.55 It has also been suggested that a minimum gross residential density of 50 dwelling units per hectare is appropriate in the South African context.56 It is important that successful high-density projects, such as the public sector hostels redevelopment project in Langa, be used to demonstrate that higher density housing can result in high quality living environments. It should also be noted that achieving higher densities is not just an objective for subsidised housing densification needs to be implemented across cities and towns through various land use management tools. It has increasingly been recognised that there is a strong relationship between public health and the urban environment, and that the planning and design of human settlements need to promote good health among residents. This operates at various scales, from building level to street/urban design level to community level.57 It is important to develop greater understanding of these links at various scales, and to ensure that the promotion of good health becomes an integral part of human settlements development. Another complex issue that needs to be grappled with in the development of new imaginaries is the issue of location. South African cities and towns are highly segregated with uneven distribution of job opportunities and with ineffective public transportation systems. In a small monocentric town, the issue of location is fairly simple, but in a large polycentric metropolitan area such as Cape Town, location is a complex issue that depends on a wide range of factors (geophysical, proximity to social and economic opportunities, transport etc). In the context of Cape Town, it could be argued that any project not in the poorly resourced south-eastern sector of the city can be regarded as relatively well-located. For example, settlements such as Westlake Village and Imizamo Yethu, although on the urban periphery, are located close to job opportunities (although the Westlake case, in particular, highlights that proximity to a single concentration of job opportunities does not necessarily mean that residents will get any of those jobs). Projects in or adjacent to old established townships, such as the Langa and Gugulethu components of the N2 Gateway Project and the hostels upgrading projects in Langa, Gugulethu and Nyanga, can also be regarded as relatively well-located, as there are established social and economic networks and reasonably adequate public transport linkages. A more sophisticated understanding of housing location and analytical tools for holistically assessing the suitability of location need to be developed.

4.3 Mobilising financial resources

The Isidima Strategy is an ambitious strategy to enable everyone to live in sustainable human settlements. Although the Isidima Strategy rightly points out that a quantitative, numbers-driven process is undesirable, it is important that the scale of delivery is sufficient to have a significant impact. In the 2001 Provincial Housing Plan it was estimated that 40 000 subsidised housing units need to be provided every year to eliminate the housing backlog within 15 years.58 The current, and currently projected, level of delivery is less than half of that. The challenge is how to deliver on a sufficient scale to address a large housing backlog (estimated at 410 000 households) within more or less the same resource constraints that were only able to deliver a total of 226 443 subsidised houses in the 14-year period from April 1993 to March 2008. The Isidima Strategy proposes an increased number of housing programmes and an increased overall level of delivery, but assumes that the current level of funding by the national government is fixed (i.e. approximately R1 billion a year in 2006/07 values). The strategy proposes that these funds will be supplemented by: Community savings normally 10% of the benefit, which is approximately R50 million per annum59 Loans from banks and micro-lenders Inclusionary housing ensuring the provision of affordable housing by private sector developers through incentives or regulations Greater coordination of funding between departments.

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While these sources will undoubtedly help supplement housing subsidy funding, the total additional amount of resources will probably be fairly small. Community savings are important for a variety of reasons, but will only increase the total amount of financial resources by a relatively small percentage. Access to housing credit, especially the savings-based credit of micro-finance organisations like the Kuyasa Fund,60 is also important, and could potentially result in a more significant increase in available finance. But increasing access to credit is a long-term process that will require substantial support for the growth and replication of savings-based micro-finance organisations like the Kuyasa Fund. Currently, there is very little access to credit among households with incomes below the typical threshold for conventional mortgage finance it has been estimated that only 5% of households in the R1 500 to R7 500 per month income group are able to access housing finance.61 There is great optimism about inclusionary housing, but the formal housing development market in South Africa is relatively small between 2000 and 2004 an average of 40 000 housing units per year were delivered by the private sector in South Africa.62 Even if every private sector development in South Africa was required to ensure that 20% of units provided were affordable housing, this would only result in an extra 8 000 affordable housing units per year this is 2% of the annual target required to meet the National Department of Housings goal of eliminating slums by 2014. Ultimately, it could be argued that current levels of expenditure on housing in South Africa are too low and should be increased. The latest figures on South African housing expenditure show that government expenditure on housing is about 1.5% of total government expenditure,63 whereas the international average for developing countries is about 2%.64

5. Conclusion
The Isidima Strategy is an ambitious long-term strategy to create sustainable human settlements in the Western Cape. The strategy is based on a good analysis of the current context. The shift away from RDP housing projects on the periphery to a more holistic focus on sustainable human settlements and on the overall land and housing market is long overdue. Since its launch in June 2007, the department has made good progress with implementing the Isidima Strategy. Many challenges still remain, though. First, intergovernmental and inter-departmental relations are a challenge. The success of Isidima will largely depend on the creation of a more enabling environment at a national level (for example, new types of subsidy programmes), implementation at a local level, and cooperation between departments such as the Department of Local Government and Housing and the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning. Second, mobilising additional resources will be a challenge. New subsidy programmes can only be implemented on a sufficient scale to have a significant impact if there is a significant increase in the availability of financial resources. Third, there is a need for ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the Isidima Strategy and its impact. Changes in the context also need to be monitored to ensure that the implementation of the strategy is able to respond to these changes if necessary. Fourth, the Isidima Strategy needs to be squarely located within the context of a democratic developmental state, where there is the opportunity for citizens and civil society to engage with decisions and challenge them if necessary. Finally, the paradigm shift proposed in the Isidima Strategy needs to be inculcated into the institutions and staff responsible for implementing the strategy, so that policy can be turned into practice that will have a tangible effect on the creation of sustainable human settlements in the Western Cape.

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Endnotes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 R Tomlinson The changing nature of South African housing demand Element Three of the National Department of Housings programme to develop a new Policy and Research Agenda Pretoria, National Department of Housing 2003. Provincial Housing Plan Cape Town, Western Cape Department of Planning, Local Government and Housing 2001. The road map to dignified communities: Western Cape sustainable human settlement strategy [Isidima Strategy] Cape Town, Western Cape Department of Local Government and Housing 2007. Available at http://www.capegateway.gov.za/Text/2007/10/wcshss.pdf [accessed 2 February 2009]. For example, W Smit, Understanding the complexities of informal settlements: Insights from Cape Town in M Huchzermeyer and A Karam (eds) Informal settlements: A perpetual challenge? Cape Town, Juta 2006. Report of the evaluation of the national housing subsidy scheme Pretoria, Public Service Commission 2003. T Zack and S Charlton A somewhat better life: Beneficiaries perceptions of the governments housing subsidy scheme Johannesburg, Housing Finance Resource Programme 2003. State of the cities report 2006 Johannesburg, South African Cities Network 2006, 4.13. Not to be confused with the National Department of Social Developments Operation Isidima, implemented during 20042006. Isidima Strategy 68. Ibid 8. Ibid 89. Ibid 15. Ibid 9. Ibid 46. Annual Performance Plan 2008/09 2010/11 Western Cape Department of Local Government and Housing, Cape Town 2008. Isidima Strategy 49. R Hamman et al A national model for innovation and sustainable development: The Grabouw sustainable development initiative a vital learning experience Sustainable cities 2008 South African Cities Network, Johannesburg 2008. Sustainability criteria for assessment of all human settlement projects Western Cape Department of Local Government and Housing circular sent to municipalities 2008. Isidima Strategy 14. Ibid 12. Ibid 9. Good Address, Small House, a term applied to the lower end of the conventional private residential development sector (properties in about the R400 000 to R800 000 price range). Isidima Strategy 18. Ibid 55. Ibid 18. D Smit and J Purchase A review of the international experience with inclusionary housing programmes: Implications for South Africa Pretoria, Department of Housing 2006. Isidima Strategy 56. Urban LandMark, From land rights to property rights: Conference report Pretoria, Urban LandMark, 2008. Available at www.urbanlandmark.org.za/docs/2008ULMConf/2008_Annual_conference_ report.pdf [accessed 4 February 2009]. Isidima Strategy 10. Ibid 59. Annual Performance Plan 2008/09 2010/11 Cape Town, Western Cape Provincial Department of Local Government and Housing. Cape Town Central City: Into the future Cape Town, Cape Town Partnership 2008. Isidima Strategy 12. Ibid 10.

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35 Report of the evaluation of the national housing subsidy scheme Pretoria, Public Service Commission 2003. 36 Isidima Strategy 89. 37 Ibid 10. 38 Ibid 63. 39 Draft Western Cape Strategy for the Development of Sustainable Human Settlements Cape Town, Western Cape Department of Local Government and Housing 2006, 129. 40 J Corburn Confronting the challenges in reconnecting urban planning and public health (2004) 94(4) American Journal of Public Health 541546 at 543. 41 Isidima Strategy 6263. 42 Ibid 63. 43 E Pieterse City futures: Confronting the crisis of urban development London/Cape Town, Zed Books/UCT Press 2008, 56. 44 Isidima Strategy 62. 45 P Bond Cities of gold, townships of coal: Essays on South Africas new urban crisis Trenton, NJ, Africa World Press 2000, 273. 46 Isidima Strategy 63. 47 Implementation Plan Western Cape Department of Local Government and Housing. 48 Isidima Strategy 910. 49 Community Survey 2007 Statistical releases P0301 & P0301.1 Pretoria, Statistics South Africa 2007. 50 J Baker Evaluating the impact of development projects on poverty: A handbook for practitioners Washington D.C., The World Bank 2000, 79. 51 Isidima Strategy 20. 52 C Lemanski Spaces of exclusivity or connection? Linkages between a gated community and its poorer neighbour in a Cape Town master plan development (2006) 43(2) Urban Studies 397420. 53 C Lemanski Desegregation and integration as linked or distinct? Evidence from a previously white suburb in post-apartheid Cape Town (2006) 30(3) International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 564586. 54 California Coalition for Rural Housing/Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California Inclusionary housing in California: 30 years of innovation Sacramento, San Francisco, CA, CCRH/ NPHANC 2003; A Berube Mixed communities in England: A US perspective on evidence and policy prospects York, Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2005; A Ray Inclusionary housing: A discussion of policy issues Gainesville, Florida, Alachua County Department of Planning and Development 2001. 55 A Sugranyes The public housing programme in Santiago, Chile: Quantity versus quality, a 20 year long dilemma Delft, Netherlands, Technical University Delft 2002. 56 R Behrens and V Watson Making urban places: Principles and guidelines for layout planning Cape Town, UCT Press 1996; Guidelines for human settlement planning and design [The Red Book] Pretoria, CSIR 2000. 57 For example: T Hancock and L Duhl Healthy cities: Promoting health in the urban context Healthy Cities Paper #1 Copenhagen, WHO Europe 1986; R Ranson Healthy housing: A practical guide Spon 1991; D Vlahov and S Galea Urbanization, urbanicity, and health (2002) 79(4) Journal of Urban Health Suppl. 1 S1S12; L Jackson The relationship of urban design to human health and condition (2003) 64 Landscape and Urban Planning 191200; H Frumkin Healthy places: Exploring the evidence (2003) 93(9) Journal of Urban Health 14511456. 58 Provincial Housing Plan Cape Town, Western Cape Department of Planning, Local Government and Housing 2001. 59 Isidima Strategy 45. 60 S Mills The Kuyasa Fund: Housing microcredit in South Africa (2007) 19 Environment and Urbanization 457469. 61 K Rust Analysis of South Africas housing sector performance Midrand, FinMark Trust 2006. 62 D Smit and J Purchase A review of the international experience with inclusionary housing programmes: Implications for South Africa Johannesburg, Pretoria, Department of Housing 2006. 63 2008 Estimates of national expenditure Pretoria, National Treasury 2008. 64 UN-Habitat The challenge of slums: Global report on human settlements 2003 London, Earthscan 2003.

CHAPTER FIVE: ISIDIMA: CREATING DIGNIFIED COMMUNITIES

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