A workshop on the National Human Settlement Land Indices (NaHSLI) was held on 7 August and was attended by 22 delegates from the Housing Development Agency (HDA), the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) National Treasury and the Department of Human Settlements (NDHS).
The presentations at the workshop were well received. Delegates were impressed with the conceptualisation and methodology of NaHSLI, and fully supported its implementation in their working environment.
CoJ expressed a keen interest to collaborate and enhance NaHSLI and take it to provincial and national levels. National Treasury identified the need to adapt and customise NaHSLI to the seven other metropolitan municipalities.
The workshop identified several points to be noted by the HDA. These included the fact that NaHSLI is based on available and accessible data only, and that the granularity of data varies from area to area. Certain cities would definitely have more information available and this will have an influence on NaHSLI.
The workshop concluded with a decision that the HDA will conduct a technical working session with the CoJ for more detailed interaction.
The purpose of this would be to reassess the indicators for the Land Suitability Index, provide more appropriate weightings to some of the indicators, and possibly increase the range of the weightings. There is also a need for the Agency to test and verify the Land Suitability Indices and weighting via various erven with the Johannesburg metro, and recalibrate where necessary.
The National Human Settlements Land Indices provide a means to identify suitable, available, accessible, livelihood and habitable land for new human settlements.
In utilising them, government will be better placed to meet its Outcome 8 obligations and will enhance its capacity to deliver quality and appropriately-located housing. Ultimately, the tool will be a key asset that serves the people of South Africa by assisting in spatial planning and the making of plans that are in harmony with development, the environment and society, thereby ensuring the efficient and effective creation of sustainable human settlements.
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