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concentrated in the City Region. The current rate of urbanisation, combined with existing housing backlogs, presents significant challenges in providing adequate housing for all residents. The increasing demand for sustainable housing is expected to escalate as the population grows, especially in urban areas like Mangaung Metro Municipality, which currently has 47 informal settlements.
Respondents highlighted the need for prioritising sustainable housing to prevent the further proliferation of informal settlements. Innovative approaches are required to meet the growing housing demand:
respondent 5: There aren’t enough developments happening.
The Mangaung region currently has three social housing developments (Brandwag Units, Siqalo Units, and the incomplete Silver City Units) and two mixed development projects (Phase 2 and Vista Park). Despite these initiatives, the demand for housing has not been adequately met:
respondent 6: We get thousands of applications, but unfortunately, we can’t help everyone; we put them on a waiting list.
These findings underscore the challenges of keeping pace with the increasing demand for social housing in the face of rapid urbanisation.
Capacity to meet housing demands
The Affordable Housing Association (AHA 2021) suggests that a functional housing sector is characterised by its ability to provide appropriate and affordable housing, offering various choices and opportunities at the right scale. However, the study found that the Mangaung Metro Municipality, ranked among the bottom three performing metropolitan municipalities in South Africa, struggles with capacity issues, particularly in social housing provision. The municipality also faces significant land degradation challenges, with 52% of the area’s land affected, according to the Governance Performance Index (2021).
Community confidence in the municipality’s capacity is low, as evidenced by a memorandum submitted in 2019, expressing concerns about municipal maladministration. The study also revealed that the capacity to deliver social housing is not solely dependent on local government operations but is also influenced by national government decisions and the capabilities of supporting institutions:
respondent 7: Not enough budget; too much bureaucracy surrounding the funding.
This indicates that capacity issues extend beyond operational and administrative challenges and are exacerbated by external factors such as budget constraints and bureaucratic hurdles.
Misalignment among government spheres
The study identified a critical issue of misalignment among the three spheres of government –national, provincial, and local – in their planning and policy implementation. National government is responsible for allocating resources to provincial and local governments, guided by national strategies and targets. However, the study found that these plans are often misaligned, leading to negative impacts on cities within local municipalities and their priorities. Participants noted that local government performance in social housing is heavily influenced by decisions made at the national level:
respondent 8: We are trying our level best; budget and instructions come from the top, and we then work with what we have.
Despite these challenges, respondents observed some positive outcomes where social housing projects have been implemented:
respondent 9: Improvements in the surrounding environment.
respondent 10: Increased economic activity.
These findings suggest that while social housing can have positive impacts, the misalignment of policies and plans among different levels of government hampers the overall effectiveness of these initiatives.
discussion of research findings
The results obtained from this study expose notable barriers and shortcomings in the urban revitalisation policies and policy frameworks in South Africa, namely in the Free State province. These results align with existing research on urban development and housing policy, which emphasises the challenges of implementing successful urban revitalisation initiatives in underdeveloped nations. The following section examines the results in connection to current literature and theoretical frameworks, emphasising the consequences for policy and practice.
The lack of a comprehensive and substantial policy framework explicitly focused on urban revitalisation in the Free State province highlights a wider problem in South Africa’s urban planning strategy. Based on Turok’s (2012) analysis, urban regeneration in South Africa has frequently been fragmented and responsive, rather than being
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