When a quick fix is not the answer

How do I sum up the experiences, the challenges and the excitement of working in the South African environment over the last two and a half years?

With the exit of Madiba (Nelson Mandela) and Thabo Mbeki formally entering the Presidency, the world awaits the next steps in South Africa's re-development. Certainly the initial romantic notions that South Africa, having enjoyed a smooth transition to independence, would inevitably have a smooth transition to transformation have been greeted with increasingly vocal scepticism. The effects of apartheid remain apparent and stare you in the face every moment of the day. Apartheid in legislative form is, of course, well and truly buried. It is, however, likely to take a lot longer to improve the lot of the ordinary South African. Economic apartheid is very much present. Although wealth is being transferred to black people and black people now occupy most of the senior jobs in the country, they represent a growing elite rather than the majority of the population. The majority of the country's wealth still remains in the hands of a very small minority, most of them white.

What becomes apparent very quickly, and quite rightly so, is that the new establishment is in no mood for old style colonial paternalism. Assistance is provided on their terms and they set the agenda. This is is of course the way it should be, but like anywhere else, South Africa is a complicated place. In fact, the country is like an onion of the fiercest kind. One that certainly gets the eyes watering, even perhaps the heart weeping, at the magnitude of the dilemmas this country faces and is likely to face for some time to come. South Africa is a multi-layered, multi-cultural and multi-faceted country with all the fascination this brings.

This is the backdrop to the work of the housing sector and particularly the work of the Social Housing Foundation. There is no single solution to South Africa's housing crisis. There is no panacea that will resolve the housing needs of anything between 1 and 3 million people. There are no reliable statistics to begin to assess the level of need let alone the solutions to it. Even if there were an easy way to house the millions, how would it be financed? Despite all these obstacles, it is clear that social housing is central to addressing South Africa's housing problems.

The mandate of the Social Housing Foundation is to develop housing institutions and empower them with the capacity and technical knowledge required to access private finance and government subsidy. In addition to assisting in the development of independent social housing institutions, the SHF is active in helping to create the policy framework necessary for social housing groups to work successfully. The SHF has taken up and run with the challenge of building and supporting an industry that can deliver and manage social housing around the country.

Social housing in South Africa is aimed at the working poor - those earning between £200 to £350 per month. These people can afford to pay for housing but have no access to it through mainstream channels. Their purchasing power is limited, making rental a necessary as well as desirable option.

Social housing is however a long-term solution. It will not provide the quick fix that South Africa desperately needs. The major challenge for emerging organisations is the financial viability of both the organisation and its stock. Emerging organisations in South Africa have little or no access to start-up finance. Private finance, if you can access it, comes with high interest rates and this inevitably has a knock-on effect on the quality of the product and the rents.

Despite these problems, social housing remains a viable option in South Africa for two main reasons. Firstly it offers a real opportunity for working people to get involved in finding their own solutions rather then relying on market forces. Secondly, social housing can play a real part in the regeneration of inner cities and can assist in the reversal of apartheid geography.

The SHF has an impressive record of achievement, both in supporting the establishment of an industry and in contributing to the creation of the environment necessary for it to flourish. Social housing is now very much on the map in South Africa and rental housing is recognised as a serious option in meeting housing needs. When I left South Africa and the SHF, there were some 30 emerging housing institutions being supported by the SHF. Many of them are still embryonic, but those that are starting to deliver are looking at producing around 1000 units a year. Given these sorts of figures, it is clear that the landscape could soon be dramatically different. These achievements have been accelerated with international support, in which the housing movement in the UK has played a major role. The assistance from the South Africa Housing Support Network provided technical advisors who were able to step into an alien environment and begin to work with local professionals, helping them to set up organisations and transferring skills. This assistance was extremely well received and provided the catalyst to translate the SHF's vision into reality.

As managing director of the SHF, my mandate was clear from the outset. My job was to set up the organisation, develop its vision, strategies, policies, structures, and market the concept of social housing nationally. In addition, my role was to facilitate the appointment of a locally identified leader and assist in the transition stage to take the organisation into the second phase of implementation and development. As soon as it was able to do this, my work was completed.

There are many challenges that continue to face the SHF in its future role. With strong leadership, it needs to maintain a clear vision, a realistic, strategic plan with measurable targets, which take account of the need to rapidly develop local skills. Its status as an autonomous organisation working in partnership with government needs to be balanced, without sacrificing financial support. Reliance on international support needs to be based on local needs and clearly identified within the strategy and managed through the SHF.

As I look back at my time, I know more could be done and must be done. It was also apparent to me as I left that, as outsiders, our role and contribution can only be limited. Maybe providing good healthy seeds and some guidance on sowing techniques is as far as it goes. I have however been hugely privileged to have had the opportunity to make a small difference and hope that others will now carry on with what can and has been achieved in meeting the housing needs of South Africa.