Improving the location of low income housing delivery in South African urban areas.

Abstract

This finding suggests the need for a range of different housing typologies, with 'higher cost / higher potential benefit' housing typologies on scarce well-located land allocated to those with the best chance of exploiting those potential benefits. Recent advances of a Planning Support System (PSS) for South African planners and policy-makers to address the increasing housing backlog in improved locality within current resource constraints has included a predictive capability, consideration of density and the reduction of the component costs of delivery to common monetary terms. Application of the PSS to Gauteng province, South Africa shows that the total cost of higher density housing on well-located land is very similar to that of existing lower density options spread from core to periphery, with the cost of the house (largely carried by the household) being significantly higher and the cost of transport and engineering services only slightly lower for the denser option.