About The Project

This Social Housing Portal represents a collaborative effort among organisations and individuals from the public, private and civil society sectors in South Africa, all united by a shared objective: to advance the provision of well-located social and affordable housing.

At the core of our cooperation is a recognition that addressing complex urban development challenges necessitates a 'whole of society approach', where diverse stakeholders join forces to create 'public value'. The 'public value' of this initiative lies in furnishing an open-access data and information platform focusing on social housing in South Africa. We want to improve public understanding and analysis of the sector, foster more robust debates about its challenges and generate new insights to improve policy and practice.

The portal stems from extensive collaboration among professionals with longstanding interest and experience in social and affordable housing. These include researchers and practitioners from the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), the University of the Free State (UFS), the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA), the National Association of Social Housing Organisations (NASHO), the Development Action Group (DAG) and Ndifuna Ukwazi (NU). The portal is but one outcome of our ongoing partnership and commitment to pooling resources (labour, expertise, data, or finances) to address South Africa's ongoing housing and spatial segregation challenges, while fostering inclusive economic growth and transformation.

Developed in collaboration with VeRAM, the web portal prioritises user-friendliness, offering various levels of depth to accommodate diverse needs and interests. Whether you're a resident, government official, social housing practitioner, investor, researcher, journalist or come from any other background or profession, our platform aims to empower you to enact positive change. We encourage you to use the data responsibly, making the most of the information provided.

In its current phase, the portal's data is confined to social rental housing projects accredited by the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA). These projects receive government subsidies within the Social Housing Programme, necessitating registration with SHRA. While numerous other social and affordable housing initiatives exist nationwide, encompassing endeavours by the government, private sector, and communities both within and outside the state subsidy system, our database centres on state-subsidised social rental housing projects. This focus was chosen not only due to the availability of data about this sector, collected and managed by the SHRA, but also owing to the special role social rental accommodation is intended to play in fostering integration, inclusivity, and productivity within our towns and cities. To learn more about social rental housing click here.

Going forward, we aspire to expand our platform's scope to encompass a broader array of project types, furnish more detailed insights into individual projects, and incorporate additional layers of information to facilitate richer analysis. In the meantime, we welcome your feedback and suggestions at info@socialhousingportal.org.za