Nick Wilson

Property Correspondent

COMMERCIAL property association Sapoa said yesterday that it would table its stance on what percentage should be set aside in new developments for affordable housing in a report to government next month.

Sapoa CEO Neil Gopal said the organisation had conducted in-depth research on the obstacles to the delivery of housing in SA and had also “studied some international precedents of these types of issues where similar projects were done”.

Government has previously proposed that 20% of new developments be set aside by the developers for affordable housing, as part of efforts to alleviate the housing shortage and rid SA of apartheid housing patterns.

Gopal said Sapoa had “collated” the views of its members affected by the proposal by holding about five workshops this year.

He said Sapoa “fully supported” government’s desire to fast-track housing delivery.

“We would prefer an incentive-based approach rather than that it be done on a penalty basis.”

One incentive could be for rezoning procedures to be fast-tracked for developers as the wait for a rezoning approval could take as long as three years at the moment, said Gopal.

He said tax incentives could also be offered to developers to put aside a percentage of their developments for affordable housing.

Sapoa believed that it would be able to achieve consensus with government on what percentage would be viable, Gopal said.