Social housing as a means of upward social mobility

This article discusses how South Africa’s social housing programme could help reduce segregation and promote upward socio-economic mobility by providing low-income individuals and families access to well-located urban areas with better job opportunities, education, and amenities.

Key points include:

• Historical context: Since 1994, the government has built over three million subsidised homes under the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) and Breaking New Ground (BNG). However, many were placed on city outskirts, limiting access to economic opportunities.
• Social housing as a solution: Unlike RDP/BNG housing, social housing provides subsidised rental apartments in well-situated areas, aiming to reduce segregation and promote economic mobility.
• Challenges: Despite its benefits, social housing remains a small part of the housing budget, and many conventional projects are still being developed too far from city centres due to high land costs and slow government land release.
• Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) research findings: Studies show limited upward mobility among tenants of social housing, with only a small percentage moving into homeownership or better jobs. Many leave due to unaffordable rent or other factors.
• Need for better data: The HSRC has developed a social housing portal to provide updated information on projects and their impact, aiming to improve policy decisions and track social mobility outcomes.

Overall, while social housing has the potential to improve socio-economic mobility, challenges such as poor location choices, affordability issues, and lack of monitoring need to be addressed for better effectiveness.

Abstract based on original source.