The increasing number of RDP housing has created an evolution on
how the underprivileged live their lives, over the past two decades. The
housing strategy, which was aimed to decrease the still increasing rate of
informal settlers and “equalize” the citizens of South Africa, saw an
incredible number of happy home owners but at the same time left a number of
people cut off from these services.
The citizens who suffered the fate of being excluded from this
housing project were those who earned a “decent” income. What was missed
throughout this was that within this group of people existed an unfortunate
group that earned around the lower margin, thus being unable to afford paying
bonds but at the same time not qualifying for RDP housing.
So the solution to this was to introduce subsides versions that
this group of people could fall under so they can benefit from this democratic
programme. My bosses managed take part in this in the Mitchell’s Plain Wescape
group housing project a few years ago.
This week we revisited the area to check the construction progress
and how the housing looks as a community. What we did not expect was how the
owners would respond to the designs as individuals, because the entire project
consisted of different “template” designs repeated throughout (due to financial
and time constraints), with slight changes made here and there depending on the
context.
What we saw was very impressive as every house had a sense of
individuality which was missing initially. Even though the area is fairly new,
you can already see that it is heading towards the right direction. Some have
painted differently, some have added their own design elements and some have
even extended their houses in a manner that does not even disturb the
aesthetics of the community.
It is quite interesting to see their response, and it leaves one
wondering how the area will look in 10 years. And if now is anything to judge
from, I have high expectations of how it will turn out.
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