Evaluating the quality of the national government self-help housing scheme in the Western Cape; before and after NHBRC involvement

Abstract

According to Section 26 (1) of the constitution of Republic of South Africa, everyone has a right to have a satisfactory house to restore and honour the dignity of the South Africans. However South African government implemented several housing programmes to bridge the gap of housing backlog in South Africa. One of the housing programmes that South African government implemented is People Housing Process (PHP). It was approved in 1998 by South African government. South African government shifted focus on the quality of houses and mainly focused on the quantity of houses delivered through the financial year. There have been a lot of quality complaints on PHP. The quality defects are signs of foundation failures, cracks on foundations, water flooding around the houses, water not properly channelling to the drain, cracks on walls, dampness of walls, mould on walls, water seeping through the windows, poorly applied external plaster, incorrect bonding of internal walls to external walls, walls that are not straight walls, sagging ceiling panels, gable not properly filled with mortar, roof structure not properly tied up, sagging roof coverings, roof leaks, sagging roof tiles and ridges, rust on painted iron material, poor quality of blocks used, insufficient cement on mortar mix and peeling off paint. National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) are the custodians of the home building industry. They were excluded from PHP from 1998 till March 2012. NHBRC was approved to inspect PHP house in April 2012. Thus, the aim of the study was to compare the houses that were built before NHBRC involvement in PHP with those that were built after NHBRC involvement in PHP. The sample included 50% of each of the two groups (those in houses built without NHBRC involvement and those built with NHBRC involvement), the research involved at least 50 respondents per group (McMillan, et al 2001:177 – recommends 15 respondents per group). The sample size per group has been put at 50 since the larger the sample the higher the accuracy. The study is classified as quantitative research because it intended to quantify the variation in occurrence, situation, problem or issue; the information was gathered using predominantly quantitative variables and the analysis was geared to ascertain the magnitude of the variation. The findings of the study revealed that the quality of the houses that were built under PHP programme before NHBRC intervention on PHP was not up to standard however the quality on those that were built after NHBRC involvement improved. Therefore it is recommended for Western Cape government to implement the rectification programme which was approved by National Department of Human Settlements in 2009 mainly focusing on houses that have been severely structurally compromised and are regarded as unfit for human habitation as it poses a threat to the health and safety of the occupants (The National Housing Code, 2009: 11-13).