The council has approved a request by its housing department to approach the national government for accreditation to manage some aspects of its housing policy.The move has the support of South African Local Government Association chairman and Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo, who says it will give local government more control over projects and make it possible to deal swiftly with illegal squatters, instead of waiting for instruction from provincial or national level.

Long-standing dissatisfaction over the slow provision of housing and allegations of corruption in housing departments, as well as rapid urbanisation, also prompted national Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s decision last year to increase the involvement of municipalities in housing programmes.

Gauteng currently has a housing backlog of 600000, which means it will have to build 66000 units every year for the next nine years, or, more accurately, 181 houses a day.

Gauteng has also fallen short in its hostel conversion programme. It set a target of 10000 units for the year, but has completed 838 and has brought in only R2,5m of the expected R20m in rental.

Sisulu proposes a progressive accreditation of municipalities to which her department will assign some housing functions based on their funding arrangements, accountability and governance.

Johannesburg city council spokesman Nthatisi Modingoane said the city’s housing department was in the process of drafting a business plan.

“National government will then decide if we have the capacity to take on certain functions,” Modingoane said.

Joint housing projects currently under way in Johannesburg include R2bn low-cost housing project Cosmo City in Randburg and the R1,3bn Alexandra Renewal Project, which is not expected to meet its 2007 housing deadline.

There is concern about the city’s capacity to deliver on these projects, as it has built just 8000 homes for families in the past five years, but Sisulu has promised that in line with Project Consolidate, all selected municipalities will receive technical, administrative and management assistance from provincial and national government.