Expanding Abused Women's Access to Housing

by

Erica Emdon

Research report written for the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, 2007.

Executive Summary

Women who are abused are in an extremely precarious situation, often requiring alternative, emergency accommodation to escape their abusive partners. In an ideal world, perpetrators should have to leave the house and allow women and children to remain in the home. However, this state of affairs rarely exists and in the main, women have to escape their homes, often under circumstances of extreme stress and violence, and find their own accommodation.

Given this extremely unsatisfactory state of affairs, this report looks at the housing choices currently available to women faced with having to leave their homes. It provides an overview of different shelter options available and categorises them. In many cases, the first form of shelter that women require is emergency shelter which literally prevents harm and keeps women out of danger, much like emergency shelter is provided when people are victims of floods and natural disasters.

In order for abused women not to have to return home to abusive circumstances, they require longer term shelter. First stage housing, which accommodates women for about three months, partially fulfils this need and is the most common form of shelter being offered around the country.

Various stakeholders interviewed emphasised how desperate the need is for longer term accommodation for abused women once they leave first stage shelters. A period of one year to eighteen months was often stated as the optimum period of stay that would enable a woman to set herself and her children up in a new life, free from the former abusive relationship. This form of shelter, referred to as second stage housing in the report, is virtually non-existent despite the fact that that the need for it is so acute.

After a woman and her children are able to leave temporary accommodation such as that provided by second stage shelters, there is a need for more permanent accommodation, which is still supportive. The term third stage housing has been used to describe this. Here the accommodation could be some kind of communal living arrangement where a woman and her children have some support but also live relatively independently. The assumption is that by this stage a woman would have found a job and enjoy some measure of economic independence. There is almost no accommodation of this nature being provided. St. Anne's in Cape Town is one of the few exceptions. Furthermore, the overall housing shortage impacts on the availability of housing for women at this stage, as it does on all people.

The report also evaluates the extent to which the Department of Housing, the Department of Social Development and the Department of Public Works are assisting in providing and supporting shelters for abused women.

The report describes the Department of Housing's current programmes that could be used for the funding of women's shelters, as well as the limitations of these programmes. It also looks at funding of operational costs by the Department of Social Development and the role of the Department of Public Works in providing properties. Finally the report identifies the role that should be played by the key government departments regarding policy and funding of appropriate models for women's shelters.

The report investigates the applicability of the existing Department of Housing transitional housing model that has been used in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) – as a potential housing model suitable for the funding of women's shelters. This policy would facilitate NGOs to use this government subsidy to fund the acquisition and re-refurbishment costs of properties. Finally, the provision of shelter for abused women has to be implemented as a partnership between NGOs and various government departments and levels of government. The Department of Social Development has a vital role to play in regard to the operational costs of shelters, while the funding for the capital costs of properties (and their refurbishment) must be borne by the Department of Housing.

1. Introduction and Statement of Problem

This report has as its main aim the development of proposals and approaches that could increase the access of women in abusive relationships to a variety of sheltering and housing options.

The report arose out of a series of roundtable discussions hosted by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) between 2004 and 2006. At the most recent of these in February 2006, it was agreed that organisations should begin thinking about policy proposals addressing the housing needs of women in abusive relationships. This document contributes to this process by:

1. Providing an overview of the different models of shelter being used by 18 shelters throughout the country. An overview of the various models in operation is presented in Section 3.

2. Examining current housing policy to identify where gaps and opportunities exist to address abused women's housing needs. In Section 4 of this report an overview is provided both of current Department of Housing, Social Development and Public Works funding, as well as the policies and programmes available that could be used for accommodating abused women. Recommendations based on the gaps identified in the policies and programmes and the needs of abused women are presented in Section 6.

1. Terminology. It was agreed that there is a need to categorise different forms of housing and define what the various terminologies mean. To this end, Section 2 of this report is specifically designed to create a shared language between the housing sector and sheltering sectors so that everyone is on the same page and so that lobbying is facilitated.

Assumptions

Before setting out the findings of the research, a few basic assumptions should be delineated at the outset to inform the discussion.

1. Non-profit. Shelters for abused women should be 'not-for-profit' organisations run either by NGOs or government. The involvement of for-profit institutions in this arena of housing provision is inappropriate as it could attract fly-by-night operators or other dubious players who see a chance to make money out of shelter provision.

2. Government must provide funding. Government should play a role in the funding of women's shelters and the burden of provision should not fall entirely on NGOs.

3. Partnerships within the state and between the state and NGOs are key. Partnership is an essential ingredient of the provision of shelters for abused women.

2. Diversity of options. Related to the above point about second stage housing, is an overall need to create a range of options for abused women, rather than assuming a one size fits all approach. Women who are both destitute and abused may require considerably more assistance than women who are abused but also employed, and who have access to other resources and support.

4. The term 'special needs' should be applied with caution to abused women. The term 'special needs' can imply that the 'special' group under discussion suffers from some type of handicap or disability and that it is somehow lesser than the norm, as well as requiring more effort than the norm. The reality, however, is that there is no one norm in South Africa; people live in a diversity of circumstances which require a diversity of responses. Responses that meet this diversity are a right, rather than a favour. However, the government has adopted the terminology 'special needs', as have various stakeholders. (KZN interest groups working on housing for AIDS orphans and vulnerable children use the term, for instance.) At some levels, it can be seen as a purely descriptive term without a negative connotation. Nevertheless, care should be taken when using the term.

2. Definitions and Terminology

All stakeholders agree that it is very important to share a common understanding of terms like 'shelter', 'transitional housing', and 'second-stage housing', amongst others, and in recognition of this, a task team was appointed to define terminology and concepts following a meeting of the Transitional and Special Needs Housing Forum in May 2006. In the absence of the final deliberations of this task team, a report prepared by the Social Housing Foundation in 2005 provides some useable definitions (Lund et al 2004: 12).

Shelter

In this report the term 'shelter' will be used to refer to any accommodation that is provided to people who, for whatever reason, are in need of a roof over their heads. Such a need may have arisen because the person was destitute, or close to destitute, or because the person was in a crisis situation and had nowhere to stay. Shelter refers to both short- or long-term accommodation.

Transitional Housing

Transitional housing is a specific housing programme of the Department of Housing that has been piloted in Gauteng and Kwa-Zulu Natal. In this programme, an institution accesses the institutional housing subsidy and uses it to acquire/renovate a building or facility in which people can be accommodated. The term 'transitional' is key and emphasises that the accommodation provided is temporary in nature. There are differing views and policies in different projects on what constitutes 'temporary,' with these periods ranging from six months to two years in different projects. But the essence of transitional housing is that the accommodation provided is not permanent. Other features of the Transitional Housing model are –

1. Low rentals are paid;

2. People live in rooms (not flats);

3. There are communal ablutions, kitchens and recreational areas;

4. Facilities are generally managed by non-profit organisations.

There are variations. For instance, in some transitional housing projects, people cook and eat in their own rooms while in others there are no communal recreation areas. In general, most of the pilot projects tend to be located in inner-city buildings.

Communal Housing

Communal housing is a form of housing where the institutional housing subsidy is accessed to contribute to the costs of purchasing and refurbishing (or starting from scratch) a building that is converted into a communal housing model. Each occupant (or family) occupies a room and there are shared ablution facilities. There may or may not be shared kitchen/ recreational space as well. Rentals are generally higher than those paid in transitional housing facilities. In communal housing facilities people have renewable leases which enable them to stay for as long as they wish. The institutional housing subsidy rules apply, which means in general that these projects are available to South Africans over 21.

The growth in communal housing projects has been prompted by the recognition that poor people are not able to afford the higher, more market-based rentals of social housing and ordinary rental. Communal housing is a form of housing that is cheaper and aimed at people who are prepared to share various facilities in return for paying lower rent.

Social Housing

Social housing is defined as affordable, high quality and well-located subsidised housing that is managed on a sustainable basis by independent institutions (Lund et al 2004: 12). Currently the Department of Housing is finalising its Social Housing Programme which will be rolled out in 2007. Some pilots are being implemented in selected projects. This housing is aimed at low to medium income households who rent their accommodation. Augmented capital subsidies for social housing projects will be available only in designated areas called restructuring zones. The subsidy amount will be higher than the institutional housing subsidy, because the intention is to promote these projects in areas where property prices may be too inflated for lower end rental schemes to be implemented. In general the rentals are higher than communal housing, but relatively low compared to private sector rentals. Tenure is permanent.

Special Needs Housing

Whatever our reservations about the notion of 'special needs' housing, the term is widely used as a descriptor for housing products directed at groups who have varying degree of vulnerability. In KZN for instance, there is a "special needs" housing programme which is defined as:

housing which benefits those who are affected by poverty and who in addition are further disadvantaged in any of the following ways:

1. Infected or affected by HIV AIDs;
2. Orphans or vulnerable children;
3. Seriously ill;
4. Old and infirm;
5. Disabled or handicapped;
6. Homeless or on the street;
7. Victims of domestic abuse and violence. (eThekwini 2005: 4)

In her paper entitled 'Special Needs Housing, Developing an Approach to Policy Guidelines', Astrid Wicht says that special needs housing is both for those rendered homeless by various circumstances, as well as for those with particular needs, such as the aged or seriously ill. A key component of such housing is the provision of support facilities and services understood as essential to the recovery process (Wicht 2006: 6).

Emergency Housing

Operation Job Creation has defined emergency housing as a type of housing characterised by crisis assistance and short term accommodation. It is seen by some as providing shelter for no more than 72 hours. This form of housing aims to relocate people as soon as possible to more permanent accommodation. Emergency housing is associated with assisting those who have been victims of floods or other disasters.

The government policy on emergency housing states that if a person finds him or herself in an emergency housing situation (being a situation where his or her existing shelter has been destroyed or damaged); or if his or her prevailing situation poses an immediate threat to life, health or safety; or if the person has been evicted, or faces the threat of eviction, in such circumstances provincial housing departments must allocate funds to municipalities to provide temporary shelter. The programme is called the National Housing Programme for Housing Assistance in Emergency Housing Circumstances. It usually takes the form of temporary housing like shacks or tents.

The Housing Ladder

A useful categorisation that has been developed by Operation Job Creation is the Housing Ladder, sometimes referred to as the Housing Continuum. This refers to a continuum of housing options that people move along. The assumption is that people's needs change, and that if the facility offers support, the person can progress over time to a more independent and sustainable position regarding their housing.

The first stage is seen as basic emergency housing that a person enters for a very short period. Thereafter the person moves into a shelter where there is a greater level of support offered, which could be a government funded institution but is generally a facility provided by an NGO (the first stage housing mentioned above, would be an example). From this accommodation a person should be able to move into a transitional housing institution for a longer period where a very low rental is payable and the emphasis is on support services to assist the person to become financially independent and find a job. Communal housing is the next step. The rent payable is higher and there is less support, but still some training. The life-style is supportive as there are communal facilities and shared living arrangements. There is no time limit stipulated for how long a person may stay. Finally as the person is more independent they may move into a social housing project where there is an individual flat with its own facilities such as kitchen and bathroom and where the rent is higher. A properly managed social housing project should offer some support to its residents in the form of crèche facilities, playground areas and other community activities. But the emphasis on support lessens. Finally, the last housing option on the ladder is full home ownership in a separate family house.

This model contains a number of assumptions. In the first place, it is assumed that there is sufficient accommodation of all the different types to meet the needs of people requiring shelter. This is not the case and there is an acute shortage of all forms of accommodation being described. There are very few communal projects around the country and the overall shortage of housing means that women who have reached a point of independence are often unable to find anywhere to live and end up on the streets or in exceptionally poor accommodation.

The other assumption of the model is that people moving through the ladder are able to find employment. In an environment characterised by inordinately high unemployment, such a scenario may never materialise. It is important to recognise this, as there is a need to think of how an unemployed person may access grants from the Department of Social Development to assist them meet their expenses when they move into third stage housing and the last housing option which is more permanent. It is imperative to look at the various forms of financial support women may access under such circumstances, which would assist them in avoiding having to return to abusive partners for financial reasons.

There has to be recognition that women may move back and forth, depending on their particular life circumstances, between these phases and that there is no simple straightforward path towards stepping up the housing ladder.

(Operation Job Creation, 2005)

Recommended Terminology

In conclusion, women in abusive relationships may have different housing needs both during and post the relationship. To capture this, it may be most useful to conceptualise these needs as falling within the following phases:

1. Emergency Shelter. Women who have been battered need emergency housing in the immediate short term when they are escaping their abusive relationships. However, the current form that emergency shelter takes when offered by the Department of Housing is not necessarily suitable for abused women. These shacks or tents are also made available on land that the municipality identifies for this purpose, which is likely to be far from the city and badly located. More suitable are the safe houses that already exist in communities where women are able to go for short periods of time while they are in crisis. Furthermore, throughout the country there are a number of shelters that provide short term emergency accommodation to women.

2. First stage housing. Short term accommodation of a period of about three months is needed to assist women while they are initiating legal proceedings and getting themselves organised. First stage housing is seen as the first step an abused woman takes into a shelter, perhaps after she has been in emergency housing for a few days. Here the arrangement is short term in accordance with the rules of the particular shelter. Generally, it was found in the interviews that this kind of shelter is available for about three months. It differs from emergency housing which, as mentioned above, is literally overnight or of seventy-two hours' duration.

3. Second stage housing. This type of housing appears to have much in common with the understanding of transitional housing applied in Gauteng and KZN. It accommodates women for a period of six to eighteen months. Here there is a need to give the woman counselling and skills training so that at the end of this period, she is able to move into more permanent accommodation and find employment. Because they have primarily been set up in large refurbished buildings in inner city areas, transitional housing projects are not necessarily ideal for abused women from a design and location point of view. Research conducted by the Social Housing Foundation on transitional housing projects found that women were particularly likely to perceive the streets around inner city shelters as dangerous and unsafe. As a consequence they were reluctant to go out at night or on weekends (Lund et al, 2004). But there is no reason why the subsidy should not be available to projects that are implemented in areas that are less built up. The question of location must be debated and examined for there are many perspectives on what constitutes a good location for a shelter. For some, the inner city areas make sense because such areas are close to transport and employment. While security is an issue in some of these areas, it is something that can be managed. In other cases, shelters that are established out of the busy inner city areas in quieter more domestic settings are more appropriate, particularly when there are children. As a model, transitional housing is suited to second stage women's shelters, particularly if scaled down and made available to groups setting up these facilities in domestic scale houses.

   Transitional housing, in some form or another, and the subsidies associated with it, could be used as second stage housing. The emphasis in this phase is on empowering women and enabling them to remain independent.

4. Third stage housing. Finally, when battered women are able to live more independently, and have found employment or have accessed some form of state grants, third stage housing in the form of something more permanent, such as communal housing or social housing would be an option. Third stage housing is secure housing where there is rental tenure such as communal or social housing.

   When women live in emergency shelters, first stage housing and in some instances, second stage housing, they are generally provided with food, blankets and other amenities because it is recognised that they invariably leave abusive relationships without any material resources. As time progresses and women are assisted by the various facilities' programmes, a measure of independence is gained so that by the time they leave second stage housing, women should be capable earning an income and paying rent.

3. Current Women's Shelter Models and Gaps in Provision

The Department of Social Development published a National Directory on Services for Victims of Violence in May 2006. This 400-page volume contains names, phone numbers and addresses of government departments and service providers throughout the country. In some provinces a list of shelters is provided with the names, contact details and type of service offered. In other provinces the information on shelters is incomplete and has to be located by reading through pages of lists of other services offered. For the purposes of this report, all information on shelters in this directory has been extracted and summarised in the table below to give an overview of current shelter provision throughout the country, according the Department of Social Development. Currently there are 89 shelters throughout the country, and as can be seen from the table below, very few are offering second stage shelter to abused women.

Table 3.1 Shelters in South Africa

Province	Duration of stay	Total Per Province
Eastern Cape	Mostly emergency and less than 3 months	4
Free State	Mostly emergency	12
Gauteng	45% emergency 45% first stage housing 10% longer term second stage housing	23
KwaZulu-Natal	All emergency shelters	10
Limpopo	Mostly emergency shelters	10
Mpumalanga	Information not included in directory	8
Northern Cape	Short term shelter only	3
North West	Information not included in directory	5
Western Cape	Mixture, mostly emergency and first stage	18
TOTAL		89

Duration of Stay, Size of Shelter and Type of Accommodation

To obtain a more in-depth understanding of shelters, seventeen shelters from different parts of the country were contacted to establish what models of shelter provision are being implemented, and to canvas their opinions on a number of issues.

A large number of shelters offer emergency overnight accommodation only, or accommodation for less than two weeks. Here the emphasis is on providing safe places that enable women to leave extraordinarily dangerous circumstances. After leaving this accommodation, women either have to return home, live with a relative, or move into a first stage shelter - if one is available.

Table 3.2 Overnight and Emergency Shelters

Name of shelter	Number of women and children accommodated	Duration of stay permitted	Type of accommodation
Tshirelso People Against Abuse	About 8 women and their children	Overnight	3-bedroomed house
Advice Desk for the Abused, Durban	About 12 women and their children	Up to 2 weeks	4-bedroomed house
Bolakanang Support Centre, Free State	About 20 women and their children	24 hours (maximum a week)	A large room sub-divided into four bedrooms
Serobe Crisis Centre	About 10 women and their children	48–72 hours	3-bedroomed house
Ikhaya Lethemba One Stop Centre	About 20 women and their children	2–3 days	Dormitories

The majority of shelter providers interviewed offer short-term, first stage accommodation to relatively small numbers of women in domestic scale settings such as houses. These shelters all provide counselling services and in some cases, run other programmes aimed at enhancing skills. Women in these shelters are assisted in initiating legal action and have access to legal services. Almost all providers of these shelters identified an urgent need for second stage housing. In its absence, many women were forced to return to the homes from which they had fled in the first place once their stay at the shelter was up.

Table 3.3 Most Common Shelter Type Offered, First Stage Housing

Name of shelter	Number of women and children accommodated	Duration of stay permitted	Type of accommodation
Goldfields Family Advice Organisation	About 20 women and their children	3 months	4-bedroomed house
Eldorado Park Women's Forum	About 15 women and their children	3 months	Shared bedrooms in a house
United Sanctuary for the Abused	About 25 women and their children	3 months	3-bedroomed house
Esther House	Up to 30 women and their children	3 months	Dormitories in a house

Few shelters offered longer term, second stage accommodation. The ones listed below are examples of some that do offer this. These shelters all provide comprehensive programmes that assist women become emotionally and financially independent. Counselling, skills training and life skills are amongst the services generally on offer.

Table 3.4 Longer Term, Second Stage Accommodation

Name of shelter	Number of women and children accommodated	Duration of stay permitted	Type of Accommodation
The Potter's House	About 24 women and their children	6–12 months	Converted tram shed
Alberton Methodist Care and Relief Enterprise (AMCARE)	About 15 women and their children	6–18 months	4 bedroomed house
Usindiso Ministries	About 80 women and children	Up to 6 months with extensions	Converted inner city building
The House	About 40 teenage girls and women under 25 years	Indefinite – until re-united with families or independent	Dormitories in large house

Ikhaya Lethemba is planning a second stage facility which will accommodate 140 women and their children. They will be able to stay for 3–9 months.

Shelters rarely accommodated more than about 30 women and their children. The few shelters that did accommodate larger numbers, were based in converted inner city buildings or in houses and flats in more suburban settings.

Louiville Support Centre is housed in an old government building and offers counselling as well as assistance with legal proceedings. Usindiso is housed in an old inner city building and offers counselling, skills training and a range of other enrichment programmes. Women are housed for up to six months.

Table 3.5 Large Shelters in Buildings

Name of shelter	Number of women and children accommodated	Duration of stay permitted	Type of Accommodation
Louiville Support Centre	About 80 women and children	Up to 6 months with extensions	Former Kangwane Government offices
Usindiso Ministries	About 80 women and children	Up to 6 months with extensions	Converted inner city building

Table 3.6 Large Shelters in Houses

Name of shelter	Number of women and children accommodated	Duration of stay permitted	Type of Accommodation
Bienvenu Shelter	About 55 women and children	6 months	Single rooms, flats and dormitories on large suburban property
Bethanie Shelter	About 50 women and children	6–18 months	A house and four flats

Many of those interviewed favour a setting that resembles a home rather than a large institution. For this reason houses, preferably located in fairly central areas where there is transport and access to other services, such as clinics, schools and shops, seem to be the preferred option.

Almost all the shelter providers expressed the need to have more second stage accommodation, finding it difficult to send women away after three to six months without further housing options. It is at this critical point that women may return to the abusive relationship due to the lack of alternatives. This is also identified as a problem by the Department of Social Development, which is understandably keen for the Department of Housing to play a role in housing provision.

St. Anne's, a shelter provider in Cape Town, offers all three stages of accommodation. It owns various houses in Woodstock where these facilities are situated. The first stage shelter allows women to stay for four to six months in shared accommodation. Second stage accommodation houses women in their own rooms for six to twelve months and third stage accommodation is available to women from twelve months to two years. The centre tries to provide an holistic range of supportive services to women during their period at the various residence, including counselling, skills development, life training and related courses.

Funding

Securing funding presents many challenges. Some shelters receive some government funding and a few are wholly government-funded. The majority receive a mix of government and donor funding.

Those shelters that are wholly funded by the Department of Social Development are often in small towns or villages, run on shoe-string budgets and offer very basic services. Many of these shelters rely on volunteers who are paid stipends instead of salaries by the Department of Social Development – a situation the volunteers find unsatisfactory. Because they are in remote, impoverished areas, they are unable to raise their own funds and are generally poorly-resourced. Shelters in bigger cities are able to raise a substantial amount of their own funding and consequently offer a wider range of services and programmes, as well as better-resourced facilities.

Table 3.7 Funding

Name of shelter	Percentage of government funding	Department	Other Funders
Goldfields Family Advice Organisation	60%	Free State DSD	Private donors, corporates
Tshirelso People Against Abuse	100%	Free State DSD
Usindiso Ministries	75%	Gauteng DSD (NDoH paid for renovation of building)	Churches, private donors and the lotto
Bolakanang Support Centre	100%	Free State DSD
The Potter's House	50%	Gauteng DSD	Churches, overseas funders, individuals
Serobe Crisis Centre	50%	Free State DSD	Churches, corporates
Esther House	85%	KZN DSD	Lotto, banks
St. Anne's	About 50%	Western Cape DSD	Community Chest, churches, individuals
The House	About 50%	Gauteng DSD	Overseas donors, the public
AMCARE	50% (but reducing)	Gauteng DSD	Alberton Methodist Church, individuals, corporates
Eldorado Park Women's Forum	80%	Gauteng DSD	Lotto, corporates
Louiville Support Centre	100%	Mpumalanga DSD

Ikhaya Lethemba in Johannesburg is funded by a number of Gauteng provincial departments, including Community Safety, Public Works, Social Development, Health and the National Prosecuting Authority. The shelter is a provincial government project and is meant to be an example of inter-governmental coordination bringing together a range of services under one roof.

A few shelters are completely self-reliant. These are often funded by a particular church. Bienvenu shelter for example, obtains most of its funding from the Catholic Diocese. Bethanie is partly self-funded and raises its funds from the Lotto and various corporates. The few shelters that are wholly funded by donors were reluctant to obtain government funding. Government's requirements for funding are seen to be bureaucratic, cumbersome and onerous, making state funding unattractive.

Only two of the shelters interviewed charge women rent for staying in their facility. Usindiso Ministries charges R2 per day which it uses to cover breakages and minor damage to the shelter such as broken windows or doors. St. Anne's charges R60 per month for first stage accommodation, R450 per month for second stage shelter and R750 per month for third stage shelter. It runs a variety of programmes and has mechanisms in place to assist women to earn this money from the time they enter the shelters. While the amount collected covers less than 1% of the overall costs of the shelters, payment of a fee is aimed at inculcating a self-reliant ethos in the women.

Programmes

All the shelters interviewed offer programmes of various types, including: life skills, counselling and a wide range of skills development courses such as sewing, baking, computer skills, shoe making, gardening, beadwork, crafts, literacy, CV preparation and child care training. One shelter, St. Anne's, sends women to the local technikon and pays for them to acquire hotel skills or receptionist training, or any other course of their choice. One of the shelters, AMCARE runs a domestic employment agency from its premises and places women in employment where it can.

Gaps and Problems with Provision

Shelter stakeholders interviewed for this report felt as though they were working without any real guidance and assistance from the government. All have difficulty meeting their costs and needed more funding. The shortage of facilities, as well as the lack of funding with which to establish new shelters, was also highlighted. The most common problems and gaps are identified below.

1 Urgent need for second and third stage accommodation

Most shelters offer short-term accommodation only. Because there is virtually no second and third stage accommodation, many of those interviewed told us that women have either to return to abusive partners or live in very poor conditions after they leave.

1 Accommodation for boys/men
The accommodation of boys over 12 can be a problem as most shelters exclude older boys. This needs to be addressed.

2 Programmes for children
Most shelter programmes focus on the women (with the exception of St. Anne's which runs special programmes for children). The need was expressed to have some programmes for children. In an interview with St. Anne's it was stated that children accompanying their mothers to shelters require as much counselling and emotional support as their mothers. They said that there has to be recognition that the children suffer as much trauma, if not more, from living in a family where abuse has been taking place.

3 Shelters in rural areas
In general, the view has been expressed that there are too few shelters in rural areas and this is something that must be addressed.

4 Operational funding is not available or is inadequate
Shelters said they struggled to find funding for all the various operational expenses:

4. staff and salaries;


5. municipal service charges for electricity, water and rates (if the property is owned);


6. food;


7. extras such as blankets, toiletries and bus fare to get to the clinic;


8. administrative costs such as paper, telephone lines and fax machines.

In general, the need for more funding from the Department of Social Development for operational costs was expressed. As mentioned, many of the shelters are staffed by volunteers who receive stipends from the Department of Social Development. Organisations want to see these stipends converted to proper salaries because volunteers are unable to sustain themselves on such low stipends for extended periods of time.

5 Capital funding is required
Three components of capital funding are needed:

9. buildings and/or property acquisition;


10. ongoing capital maintenance costs for buildings; and


11. furniture and other capital equipment required to start up a shelter.

Almost all those interviewed stated that they required capital subsidies to maintain their buildings. Large capital expenditure is required to replace old roofs, electrical systems and plumbing, or paint and tile old buildings. Most of those interviewed saw a clear role for the National Department of Housing in funding these costs. However, very few of the shelters interviewed had received Department of Housing capital subsidies to acquire and refurbish their properties.

6 Local authorities should assist

Many expressed the view that local authorities should reduce rates and keep service charges such as water and lights costs at a minimum. Reductions in rates or service charges are not consistently offered across municipalities. In Johannesburg, where many of the inner city buildings utilised as shelters are not zoned for domestic use, shelters were required to pay non-domestic, higher charges for water and electricity. Rectifying this problem has proved almost impossible. In general, there is a concern expressed that local authority charges should be reduced to make the shelters run more viably.

7 The roles of different departments and levels of government are not clear

Some of those interviewed are unclear as to what funding is available and from whom. It was felt that in each province clear guidelines should be available on what funding and other support is available, as well as from whom.

What is important, and recognised in 2004 already, is that "government as a whole is not effectively pulling together the package of information, grants and benefits that are already available to vulnerable groups into a collective impact" (Charlton, 2004). And perhaps this is as important as developing new policies and further products.

4. Current Government Policies, Programmes and Funding

This section focuses on the role of different government departments currently involved in providing shelter to abused women.

Department of Housing Policy

8 The Housing Act

The Housing Act 107 of 1997 sets out a number of general principles applicable to housing. It is stated that national, provincial and local spheres of government must promote:

the meeting of special housing needs, including, but not limited to, the needs of the disabled; and
the housing needs of marginalised women and other groups disadvantaged by unfair discrimination. (Section 2(1)(e))

Among other things, the Act states that national government must determine policy and set national and provincial delivery goals and, where appropriate, local government goals.

9 Breaking New Ground

During 2004 the National Department of Housing prepared a document which set out a new national housing vision, policy and strategy. This policy was approved by Cabinet and is entitled Breaking New Ground: a comprehensive plan for the development of sustainable human settlements (BNG). It sets out government's approach to housing delivery for the next ten years. The policy has shifted its emphasis from providing large quantities of housing, to a greater focus on quality housing. In particular, there is an emphasis on delivering sustainable human settlements.

There is a shift in policy away from product uniformity to demand responsiveness. This means that a mix of housing types will be delivered, with some costing more than others and subsidies tailored to each type. This is a departure from the earlier policy which stressed equity as a central principle. While equity is still critical, the aim is to provide for greater variance in product range, and to meet the needs of a wider segment of people with more specific housing needs. An opportunity is created by this shift to lobby for a tailor-made programme for women's shelters.

Much of what is proposed will require the NDoH to work cooperatively and in a coordinated manner across a range of departments to develop the new policies/legislation/regulations required to implement this vision. This shift in focus and move towards quality rather than quantity creates an opportunity to develop integrated policy around housing and domestic violence.

10 HIV/AIDS Housing Policy

The NDoH has been debating whether a specific policy is required to address the needs of those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS; or whether they should develop a policy broad enough to cater for the needs of all those groups currently not catered for by available policy. At the time of writing there seems no conclusive position coming out of the Department on this issue.

This new imperative of the NDoH to look more systematically at housing that meets the needs of a wider group than current housing beneficiaries (married people and single people with dependants) is a step forward. When looking at vulnerable groups, the trend in the past has been to respond by means of "concessions – such as a relaxation of the beneficiary contribution for the elderly, disabled and indigent – or an additional subsidy amount (for modifications to houses for the disabled for example)" (Charlton, 2004).

11 No policy on housing for abused women

At the moment, the NDoH does not have a policy specific to abused women and shelter providers. Nonetheless a few of these shelters are being funded by means of the institutional and transitional housing subsidy.

Department of Housing Funding and Programmes

The Department of Housing does not, at this point in time, specifically fund the capital costs of building, purchasing or refurbishing properties for women's shelters. The discussion below deals with certain existing current housing subsidy products that are available and that have, in some cases, been successfully accessed for funding women's shelters.

The main innovation to the institutional housing subsidy, the transitional housing programme, is used to house homeless people, mainly in inner city areas. This will be described in detail below. This subsidy, which is a sub-species of the institutional housing subsidy, is not available in any provinces other than Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal where it has been tested as a pilot for the past eight years.

It is not clear why this programme has not been formalised into a national programme and why the pilot period has been so long. There have been many projects successfully implemented in Gauteng and KZN using this product, which makes the lack of formalisation of the programme even more puzzling.

A The Institutional Housing Subsidy

The institutional subsidy scheme is designed to fund institutions that provide housing through rental (and other tenure forms) to subsidy beneficiaries. An amount of R34 049 is paid per beneficiary household to the institution that provides the housing.

The institutional housing subsidy is only available to people that meet the following requirements:

1. The person must be married or have financial dependents.
2. The person must be lawfully resident in South Africa (i.e. a citizen or in possession of a permanent resident permit).
3. The person must be over 21 years of age.
4. The monthly household income must not exceed R3 500. In the case of institutional housing subsidies the preferred limit is R2 500.
5. The person must not yet have benefited from government funding.

Because the institutional housing subsidy is paid to an institution, the institution, rather than the beneficiary, is the central focus in awarding the subsidy. It has to be shown that the housing institution has the capacity and ability to provide ongoing, long term management services of the housing stock and can raise operational funding. A great deal of care is taken when awarding these subsidies to ensure that the institution is competent and properly set up. Various other stipulations, including the following, must be met:

1. The institution must be set up as a company, and its main object must be to provide housing.
2. The institution must have a system in place that gives occupants some representation on the institution's board or management structure, so that the occupants have a way to ensure their views are taken into account.
3. The institution must provide secure tenure in terms of a lease agreement.

(More detailed information about the Institutional Housing Subsidy is contained in Annexure 1.)

Critique of Institutional Housing Subsidy in the form set out in the National Housing Code

There are a number of problems with trying to use the institutional housing subsidy scheme for women's shelters. With willingness by government, none of these problems are insurmountable, and most could be overcome by the NDoH adjusting certain elements of the policy.

1 Problems regarding eligibility

Firstly, the institutional subsidy is designed to accommodate "households" rather than individuals. So a woman with children is considered an eligible beneficiary because her situation is considered a household, but a single woman, or woman without children, would not be a considered a subsidy beneficiary. It should be noted that when the transitional housing subsidy is used in Gauteng and KZN there is a waiver of the requirement that the subsidy be allocated for a household. The subsidy is allocated to individuals and is paid per bed.

The institutional subsidy requires the beneficiary to be lawfully resident in South Africa. This requirement could be problematic. Xenophobia and ignorance of the law could prevent women who are foreigners being admitted at all, even when they hold valid documents. In the KZN transitional housing projects, the requirement is waived.

The requirement that a subsidy beneficiary be over 21 years of age may also prove problematic for abused women's shelters. Certainly such facilities need to open to all women, including teenagers who have left home, or girls who are being abused at home.

Household income, as an eligibility requirement, should not be problematic; it is assumed that when a woman requires assistance at a shelter she is probably destitute, having left her home and possibly her job. However, there may be exceptions where a woman has left an abusive relationship but kept a job that pays over R3 500 (KZN does not require income information for eligibility).

2 Problems regarding the institutional requirements

It is accepted that the state has to protect its assets and ensure that the institution it subsidises is capable of managing the project as well as the institution. However, it is onerous to require that the sole object of the institution be the provision of housing. In many cases, the NGOs applying for the subsidy may have broader charitable purposes as their main object. On the other hand, were there some manner in which to assist NGOs to comply with this requirement, then the formalisation of the institution might lead to a more professional and competent management structure, from a housing perspective, being put in place.

3 Problems regarding representation of occupants on boards and residents' committees

It is a good principle to require that people participate in the running of their shelters. But this has to be appropriate. If the shelter is an emergency overnight or two-week shelter, such a condition does not make sense. For a shelter in which women stay longer, but where the number of women accommodated is small (say under twenty), a less formalised arrangement would be more appropriate than a residents' committee or representation on the board. So a hard and fast rule on this issue is not necessarily the best approach.

4 Problems regarding lease agreements

Again, compliance with this requirement would depend on the shelter and the accommodation being provided. For emergency and first stage shelters it is not appropriate to enter into formal lease agreements. For second and third stage shelters, some agreement could be prepared that sets out the rights and obligations of the occupant and the shelter provider, which can be terminated.

B Transitional Housing as implemented in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN)

Transitional housing is a sub-species of the institutional subsidy which relaxes some of the rules of the institutional subsidy programme. For example, beneficiaries can be single people; institutions do not have to set up a special purpose vehicle to access the subsidy; and the subsidy is payable per bed/beneficiary rather than per household.

Pilot. The programme has been piloted in two provinces only since its inception in the late 1990s. The Gauteng Transitional Housing Policy, developed in the 1996, has been piloted in about eight projects mostly located in inner city areas. In KZN, the policy was piloted at about the same time.

Subsidy payable to institution. The subsidy is payable to an institution rather than individuals and the person who stays in a transitional housing project does not have his or her name reflected on the national data base, so he or she may benefit from an individual subsidy at a later stage. In both KZN and Gauteng the subsidy is payable to an NGO. In Gauteng, the institution that provides housing must be registered with the Registrar of Social Housing Institutions at the Gauteng Department of Housing in terms of regulations passed in 2001 under the Gauteng Housing Act, 6 of 1998. In KZN an institution must be a legal entity (preferably a Section 21 company) to obtain a subsidy. It is not necessary in Gauteng for a special housing entity to be created to gain access to the subsidy, but separate accounts must be kept for the transitional housing project.

Temporary accommodation. In Gauteng, transitional housing is seen as temporary accommodation for single people and families. There are shared ablutions and communal dining and eating facilities. The policy stipulates that the maximum length of stay is six months. But in reality the approach of most of the institutions has been to allow people to stay as long as eighteen months. In KZN the programme was primarily developed to cater for street traders, low budget tourists and visitors who needed very short term, or overnight rental accommodation, rather than for homeless destitute people, so the length of stay is not an issue and no maximum period is stipulated in the policy (Lund et al, 2004).

Eligibility. In Gauteng, in order to be eligible to stay in a transitional housing project the occupant must earn less than R1 250 if he or she is single, and less than R2 500 for a household. The person must be over 18 and lawfully resident in South Africa. In KZN there are no qualification requirements. No assessment has really been made of which approach is better. The Social Housing Foundation report notes that the two provinces use different qualification criteria and makes a recommendation in this regard:

National policy guidelines are required to define the qualification requirements for transitional and communal housing. However, such guidelines should be flexible in order to respond to different contexts. (Lund et al 2004: 81)

Quantum. The amount of the subsidy payable in Gauteng and KZN is about R34 000 per household or about R8 500 per single person. The subsidy amount is calculated per bed in Gauteng and 100% of all beds are subsidised. In KZN only 70% of the total subsidy that would have been allowed for a normal institutional subsidy project is granted. In both cases these subsidies have tended to be used for upgrading buildings.

Lease. In Gauteng the policy requires the institution to enter a lease agreement with occupants which sets out the criteria of admission, house rules and rental payable. In all the Gauteng projects rentals of between R90 per month and R400 per month are payable (this was in 2004 as set out in Lund's document).

The KZN policy does not require that a lease be entered into but requires that a register be kept of all residents including personal details such as their names, identity numbers, occupations and addresses.

Management. In Gauteng, projects must be managed by a management body which consists of interested parties and stakeholders with a direct interest in the property and the well-being of the occupants. In KZN projects fall into two categories. The first category comprises municipal projects driven by charitable institutions. These projects, usually set up as Section 21 companies, must have councillors and officials on the boards. The second category, NGO-driven projects, must have people on their boards who are financially, technically and managerially skilled.

In both KZN and Gauteng the subsidy will not be payable unless sound technical and managerial skill is evident. The applicant must be able to demonstrate that it can manage both the project and the longer term institution, and demonstrate the source of its operational funding that will lead to long term operational sustainability.

Tenure. In both cases, the institution applying is required to own the property, or at least have a registered long lease of not less than 10 years.

Problems with Transitional Housing
There are a number of problems faced by transitional housing.

1 Inadequate Funding
The subsidy amount payable is rarely enough to cover the costs of purchasing and refurbishing a project to an adequate level. This means additional funds have to be obtained from other sources or that the facility is built on the cheap (Poulson 2000: 8).

2 Capacity
Projects are generally driven and initiated by NGOs that do not necessarily have the capacity or management skills to either source the funding in the first place, or maintain sustainable institutions. Project preparation funding is not sourced and in many cases, the skills needed to put proposals together are lacking.

Despite these shortcomings the transitional housing model as tested both in Gauteng and KZN offers an important potential mechanism for funding second stage women's shelters and should be extended to the other provinces. There is also no reason why the transitional housing subsidy should be limited to the purchase and refurbishment of inner city buildings. It could as easily be used to purchase and refurbish other properties chosen by women's shelter providers.

C Special Needs Housing – KZN

A number of projects have been implemented in KZN under this label.

KZN NGOs and municipalities have implemented seventeen housing projects funded by the KZN Department of Housing that offer varying forms of accommodation to a range of groups with diverse needs (eThekwini Municipality and Project Preparation Trust of KZN, 2005). The majority of these projects house between 6 to 50 orphans and vulnerable children. A few projects have been completed for other vulnerable groups such as people ill with AIDS, the disabled and the homeless.

These projects have been implemented primarily by NGOs using housing subsidies in partnership with the KZN Departments of Social Development and Health (eThekwini Municipality and Project Preparation Trust of KZN, 2005, p. 4). A great deal of emphasis has been placed on a partnership with the Department of Health and Social Development in the implementation of these projects. The Department of Social Development is seen to be the lead department and must advise the Department of Housing whether a particular project is viable. The Department of Housing acts under guidance of the Department of Social Development and its role is confined to the provision of shelter.

A greater range of options is also available and the emphasis is on both institutional and non-institutional forms of care. The subsidy is not only available to institutions providing transitional accommodation, but also for those providing home-based care. Providing funding to pay for improvements and extensions to the homes of de facto community care givers is also being piloted. Approximately R 7 534 is paid per beneficiary. Care within small homes which replicate or create a family option is generally preferred to larger institutional options.

How the Special Needs Programme works in KZN

Grass roots CBOs. Emphasis is placed on grass roots organisations as implementing agencies. These must be capacitated to play a management and monitoring role.

Registered NPOs. In order to benefit from the subsidy the NGO must be registered as a non-profit organisation (NPO) with the National Department of Social Development. Unlike the transitional housing programme, the special needs variant pays 100% of the subsidy, and not 70%.

Three Project Types. Three major project types, which have managed to access funding from the KZN Department of Housing, have been implemented in KZN under the banner of special needs housing.

1. Institutional Model. This model has been used extensively in KZN mainly for children, but also for hospices and places of safety. The care is provided for large numbers of people at a single location.

Table 4.1 Institutional Projects

Name of Project	Type of Project	Scale
The Dream Centre	AIDS Hospice	410
Makaphutu Children's Village	Children's village	229
Ekusizaneni Children's Care and Development Centre	Place of safety for orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs)	50
Shepherd's Keep Place of Care	Abandoned children	60
Rehoboth Foster Care Village	Foster care homes for OVCs	48
Ekhaya Lethemba Place of Safety	Place of safety	100
Mildred Ward Centre	Home for OVCs	64
Lily of the Valley Phase½	Children's village	99
God's Golden Acre	Children's home	84
Kokstad Aid Home	Family care home	57
Midlands Orphanage and Care Centre	Orphanage	100
Mother of Peace	Foster care centre for OVCs	100
Cheshire Village Chatsworth	Physical disabilities	33

2. Community Care Model. Here the emphasis is on creating a family environment. The model typically consists of a care giver and between four to six beneficiaries in his or her care within a home in a community. The housing subsidy is used to either acquire housing stock or to develop new housing stock for the purpose required. The house must be owned by a suitable NGO, which must find funding for the operational costs of the home. This model can be incorporated into conventional housing projects, with a portion of the houses built specially designed to meet this need.

Table 4.2 Community Care Projects

Name of Project	Type of Project	Scale
Community Care for AIDS Orphans	Aids orphans	16
KwaDabeka Community Care Home	Foster home for OVCs	6
Abethu Community Care Home	Foster home for OVCs	6
Community Family Care: BESG	Family care home	12

3. Home Care/Home Extension Model. Here the home remains in the ownership of the existing home-owner and care-giver. A subsidy is accessed to extend or improve the property and an NGO has to sign up as part of the project to play a monitoring role (eThekwini Municipality and Project Preparation Trust of KZN 2005: 1–13).

D Communal Housing, Gauteng

Communal housing is a further sub-species of the institutional subsidy and is being piloted in a number of projects in Gauteng. Here the emphasis is on longer-term housing where some sharing of facilities takes place. For example, Douglas Rooms, Ubunye, Litakoemihof and Hofmeyr House all have some communal facilities such as a communal laundry and ablutions, and some facilities in the rooms (Lund, 2004). There is less emphasis on self development and empowerment programmes and the rents are higher than transitional housing rentals. This form of accommodation is most suited to the third stage shelters because it provides for a measure of privacy that encourages independent living, along with some support and certain shared resources.

The Europa Communal House is a recently completed project in Johannesburg that is a mixture of transitional housing, communal housing and social housing. Here there are 14 units on the top floor with bathrooms and kitchenettes, 43 communal housing units and 11 transitional housing units. Rentals range from R650 per month to R900 for the upper units. There are also 100 emergency shelter beds available for 72 hours.

Yeast City Housing, a social housing non-profit company in Tshwane, is currently providing a range of accommodation in the inner city of Tshwane aimed at building communities.

Table 4.3 Yeast City Housing

Project	Subsidy	Number of Units
The Potters House (abused women's shelter)	Transitional Housing, special needs	25
Litakoemi	Transitional Housing/communal housing	31
Burgers Park	Institutional	16
Living Stones	Transitional/institutional	27
Hofmeyr House	Transitional/communal	54
Kopanong	Institutional	62
Sediba	Institutional	45
Rivoninga Care Centre	Special Needs	20

There is also a shelter for young girls at risk of abuse, as well as a facility for homeless adults subsisting in inner city communities.

What is interesting about the Yeast approach, is that subsidy funding has been accessed time and again for these varied projects and a housing ladder-type approach to accommodation has been successfully implemented. This ladder-type approach, which provides a range of accommodation suiting different needs, shows that within the existing housing subsidy regime, a great deal of space exists to establish a diversity of housing projects.

Department of Social Development Policy

The Department of Social Development (DSD) has both a policy on shelter for abused women and also provides some funding towards the operational costs of shelters. It is seeking to develop a partnership approach with the Department of Housing in order to enhance provision. In its Policy Framework it states that its goals are to:

3. consolidate partnerships between government, civil society and business;
4. develop and implement minimum standards and practice guidelines for shelters;
5. facilitate the establishment of new shelters and strengthen existing shelters;
6. evaluate service delivery through a Development Quality Assurance process; and
7. facilitate the establishment of a national shelter registration process.

Department of Social Development Funding

Both the national and provincial offices of the DSD play a critical role in funding the operational costs of shelters. In the main, shelters interviewed are heavily reliant on whatever funding for operational costs they can obtain from the provincial Departments of Social Development. However, there is no uniformity in funding across provinces and shelter providers are uncertain and confused as regards the funding they may obtain from their provincial Departments. It seems that the amount of money allocated to women's shelters varies from year to year depending on the political flavour currently in vogue. If it shifts from women to something else, then shelter funding could be reduced dramatically or cut. In one year there may be R2m available in a particular provincial budget, and a year later there may be R10m.

A case study is presented of the Gauteng DSD's current funding approach. It should be noted that in the Free State there is an annual call for proposals from service providers and the amount available is shared between them.

Gauteng Department of Social Development funding, 2006

Different forms of funding are provided. A per capita grant of R25 per person per day is available. So if the institution accommodates 50 people at any one time, it would be paid R455 250 per annum. This funding can be supplemented with special programme funding which is available for a variety of empowerment-type programmes that NGOs run in the shelters. Special programme applications have to be completed motivating for such funding. In addition, if the programme funding does not automatically cover the costs of a social worker, an NGO may apply for the funding of a social worker post.

There are a number of requirements an NGO has to meet to qualify for funding from DSD.

12. Inspection. Firstly, when a shelter is being established the local authority must be approached and the Health Department of such local authority must inspect the facility and approve it. This approval will stipulate how many people may live in the facility and whether the land use is permitted.

13. Registration as NPO. Secondly, the NGO driving the project must be a registered non-profit organisation (NPO), with the National Department of Social Development. At this point, if both these requirements are met, the facility is assessed to evaluate its compliance with DSD Minimum Standards for Service Delivery and whether the NGO has a proper business plan in place.

The Minimum Standards for Service Delivery in shelters is a nationally prescribed list of standards that form part of the Department of Social Development's Policy Framework and Strategy for Shelters for Victims of Domestic Violence in South Africa. (A summary of the main standards that have to be met is attached as Annexure 2.) These standards cover a range of matters relating both to the manner in which people entering facilities must be treated, as well as the standards of the facility itself. Emphasis is placed on safety and a holistic approach to care, ensuring that not only are the physical needs of people met, but therapeutic and broader emotional needs too.

An institution applying for funding must meet the required standards and produce a business plan. If both the business plan and the minimum standards are met, funding will be granted per capita. An amount of R25 per adult is paid, plus R25 per child per day. R15 per adult per day is paid for crisis intervention. This per capita payment must include some skills development and empowerment programmes.

Programme Funding

Additional programme funding can be accessed for preventative programmes, as well as for perpetrator programmes, amongst others. There are no guidelines on accessing funds for such programmes and the funding is subject to negotiation between the Department of Social Development and the NGO. Programmes can include budgets for social workers and other staff.

Department of Social Development Monitoring Role

Provincial departments of Social Development are responsible for certain quality control. Gauteng undertakes a Development Quality Assurance (DQA) inspection, which is an intense assessment of the organisation, at least once every three years. The organisation itself has to complete an assessment document using the same headings as the Minimum Standards document and evaluate its services. A team of staff from DSD assesses the organisation. In addition an Operational Development Plan (ODP) is done regularly in terms of which the Department of Social Development looks at the institution on an ongoing basis.

Another form of monitoring is that undertaken in terms of the Non-Profit Organisation Act 71 of 1997 which requires, among other things, that:

8. proper books of account be kept;
9. that the accounting officer of the NPO submits a report on its financial affairs on an annual basis;
10. supporting vouchers and records be kept;
11. income and expenditure statements are kept; and
12. balance sheets are kept.

If a provincial department finds that these requirements are not being met it can refer the matter to the National Department of Social Development and motivate for de-registration of the NPO. The DQA process tries to prevent this by creating an environment for self assessment and quality control. If a province identifies problems in financial accountability or governance, or any other matter, it works with the NGO to rectify the situation. This should be considered an example of good practice.

Department of Public Works

State land is disposed of in terms of the State Land Disposal Act, 48 of 1961. The Government Immovable Asset Management Bill (GIAM), B1 of 2006, has been tabled. This bill requires all government entities to adopt a uniform approach to the management of immovable assets, including their disposal. At the time of writing, it had not been finalised as yet.

The National Department of Public Works (NDPW) has a programme that aims to dispose of immovable assets that no longer support service delivery objectives of government in a cost effective and efficient manner. The NDPW controls about 36 000 properties. Between 1999 and 2004 an average of 122 properties were disposed of per annum. The NDPW manages all national government buildings, while the provincial departments manage provincial government buildings.

Disposal to Welfare Bodies. There is a Public Works policy on the disposal by sale or long lease of government buildings to recognised welfare bodies. These organisations must be registered NPOs with the Department of Social Development. They do not necessarily have to be Section 21 companies. In these cases, disposal of state assets does not take place through a tender process. The properties can be released at a nominal value on approval by the Minister of Public Works, subject to Treasury approval. The buildings may only be used for the agreed-upon purpose. If this changes, the building/land must be returned to the government in the state it was prior to being taken over by the NGO. Any changes made by the NGO to the building must be made good.

Process of acquiring properties. A spokesman for the NDPW said that in an ideal world, the Department would be pro-active and recognise the value of a particular property to a welfare body. It should then advertise the property and let welfare bodies compete or bid to take over the building. In practice, welfare bodies approach the state and make proposals for particular government buildings. The Department of Public Works first has to check that the building is not being used for any present and future government purposes. This process can take some time. For example, the Department of Land Affairs may want the property for land restitution or the Department of Housing may want it for its own housing scheme. So the Department of Public Works has to undertake a thorough investigation to find out if there is any claim on it by a government department.

When an NGO finds a suitable property for a shelter, it is often difficult to establish whether the building is managed and administered by the NDPW or another provincial department. If it is managed by the province, then the application for the building has to be made at the provincial department and not NDPW. Not only do title deeds rarely indicate whether the property belongs to national or provincial government, but state land is registered in the Deeds Offices under a multitude of names (e.g. Republic of South Africa, Administrator of Transvaal). The best place to start is probably with the local authority. If an NGO wants to use a particular property as a shelter, the local authority should know for what purpose the property was originally designated. This is the first piece of information required. If the purpose is national, then it is likely that the NDPW administers the property. So if the local authority states that the property was meant to be used as a police station, it is likely to be a property administered by the national department because policing is a national function. If the property was earmarked for a school, it is likely to be administered by the provincial department because education is a provincial function.

Asset registers. Both the NDPW and all provincial departments are meant to have asset registers which set out exactly which properties are administered by the respective departments. Although these are not perfect, with information on residential accommodation excluded from the asset registers and some properties never included because they lacked the detailed information necessary, these asset registers are the only way of establishing if a property is administered provincially or nationally.

In 2005 the NDPW commenced a three year project to enhance and upgrade its immovable property asset register. This will also happen in the provinces. Generally, on application at the department, if a person has the Erf number and title deed information the department should be able to tell whether the property is administered by national or provincial public works.

The NDPW manages all national department property that belonged to the old Republic of South Africa at the date of the first election. All property owned by the former Bantustans is managed by the Department of Land Affairs. So if a property is required which is in one of the former Bantustans, application has to be made to the Department of Land Affairs.

If a property is managed by a provincial department, then an approach similar to that of the national department will be taken because all the provinces have similar policies. There may however, be some variation and innovation from province to province.

Gauteng approach. In Gauteng a public process has been added to the procedure adopted by the NDPW to enhance transparency and competition. If an NGO approaches the Provincial Department of Public Works for a building once it has been established that the property is not required by the government, the Department then places an advertisement in the newspaper saying it has been approached by NGO X to use the property in the defined manner and asks for comments and objections. This approach aims to allow other NGOs to compete, or to at least be informed of what the government is proposing to do with its assets. The aim is to safeguard against dubious elements who may try and take advantage of an asset being given away at less than market value. By allowing the public to know about a proposal like this, it gives an opportunity for objections to be lodged which may draw government's attention to problematic NGOs.

Local Government

There is no uniformity of approach in local government assistance to NGOs in different provinces. Johannesburg, for example, gives grants-in-aid to NGOs (essentially a rates write-off) if the organisation complies with certain stipulations. In other cases, there appear to be reductions given in service charges payable. Further work is required to investigate what assistance municipal legislation is capable of permitting.

5. Recommendations

The recommendations fall into two main categories. The first relates to general capacity building to strengthen the shelter sector and enable it to implement projects effectively. The second category of recommendations is aimed at government which, if implemented, would create a more facilitative environment for shelter providers or potential shelter providers.

A Empowering Shelter Providers

Straightening up the terminology

In Section 2 of this report we tried to give an overview of all the terminology that is used to describe shelters. We conclude by recommending that a common language must be used and where possible the same terminology.

Emergency shelters. We recommend referring to emergency shelter as shelter which literally provides overnight accommodation (or maybe 72 hour accommodation) to women in dangerous or other emergency situations.

First stage shelter. This report recommends that after emergency shelter we must talk about first stage accommodation that provides short-term accommodation to women. The norm in this type of facility is usually up to three months.

Second stage shelter. Second stage shelters provide longer term accommodation to women. Shelter workers suggested that while stays can last up to six to nine months, it should, in an optimum situation be up to eighteen months to two years. They calculate that this is the amount of time to obtain the necessary skills and training to find employment and get on their feet again. The transitional housing model currently adopted by Gauteng and KZN should be extended to all provinces and refined to fund this kind of accommodation.

Third Stage shelter. Third Stage accommodation refers to accommodation which is more long-term and permanent. The current institutional subsidy programme is the NDoH funding model that could be used to provide communal housing.

Housing Ladder Approach

Throughout the report we have referred to first stage, second stage and third stage housing for abused women. It is recommended that all those involved in shelter provision for abused women adopt this approach to accommodation and recognise how abused women's housing and support needs change over time. Emergency needs must also be recognised.

If the Housing Ladder approach is adopted, policies and programmes run by government will become better adapted to these different types of housing. They will then be able to tailor funding accordingly. If the national policy distinguished between different phases of shelters and the guidelines were clearer, provinces could provide a more user friendly service.

Standardised Data Base

A standardised data base should be developed for the sector on how to apply for funding, what funding is available and from whom. Such a data base could also contain templates that provide assistance both in preparing business plans for developing shelters as well as for managing them once they are built. Those NGOs that successfully access funds and implement projects could share their successes in implementing projects to assist others in turn.

The need for partnerships

Government and NGOs have to work together. All stakeholders are of the opinion that partnerships are a prerequisite for the sustainability of women's shelters. "In all cases special needs projects need to consist of a partnership between: a) Department of Housing; b) either the departments of Social Development or Health; c) an appropriate welfare or health NPO or similar organisation operating at grass roots level" (eThekwini, 2005, p. 8). Astrid Wicht argues that partnerships for women's shelters are essential "with the lead state department being Social Services" (Wicht, 2006, p. 14).

A partnership approach is critical because each component plays a very specific role that cannot be undertaken by anyone else. The empirical research shows that it is primarily non-profit organisations providing shelter for women, with the aid of some operational funding from the Department of Social Development. Rarely does one find all the various role-players working together. The need for such partnerships to become a fundamental component of the approach to abused women's housing must be stressed. There is a role for all spheres of government and a number of different departments alongside NGOs.

Drivers of projects should be NGOs. Drivers of projects should be the NGOs, CBOs, women's groups, churches or other organisations that intend to manage and run the facility.

There is a role for the private sector. While shelter provision for abused women should be driven by NGOs, the private sector could provide invaluable technical and financial assistance and could be drawn upon where appropriate.

The roles of other players must be clear. When a project is being initiated, the NGO driver must start with the local authority and be assisted from there to bring the other players together. The local authority is the logical starting point because the NGO needs to ensure that municipal zoning would allow a shelter to exist at the proposed location. The local authority is required to approve the establishment of a shelter. Any building plans have to be approved first and building inspectors have to monitor and check that there is compliance. The provincial Department of Social Development could be a parallel starting place, and could play a coordinating and facilitating role, ensuring that the NGO is assisted in obtaining the different approvals and funding. The Provincial Department of Housing could be approached for subsidies and should request that the applicant indicates that both local authority and Department of Social Development approval have already been obtained. This should be a pre-condition for approval of subsidies. The Department of Housing should not have to assess the viability of the project from a service provision point of view. This should be the task of the Department of Social Development.

At the end of the day, it is imperative that the different roles of these parties be defined clearly and that NGOs are assisted in getting applications through.

Project Preparation must be recognised as a key component of projects and be funded

Project preparation. KwaZulu-Natal is the only province with an institution called the Project Preparation Trust. This organisation assists those NGOs wanting to implement housing projects under the 'KZN special needs' housing programme with the initial feasibility studies and project preparation of their applications for funding. NGOs often lack the capacity to prepare proposals and feasibility studies properly and thereby could fail to raise subsidy funding.

The purpose of project preparation is to –

1. Develop a clear project concept;
2. Ensure that the concept is supported by key stakeholders;
3. Ensure that the project is viable and sustainable from both a financial and institutional perspective (eThekwini, 2005, p. 15).

The project preparation phase is critical, particularly in an environment where funding is being accessed from diverse sources, each with their own stringent requirements for access.

Funding for project preparation must be provided. The eThekwini document argues that the cost of project preparation for special needs housing projects is generally between R40 000 to R80 000 and should be factored into any application. It is also argued that this money should be provided by the Provincial Housing Departments and is a cost that must be accounted for. In fact, the concept of project preparation funding is enshrined in the National Housing Code. Project Preparation funding is generally deducted from the cost of the project (the total subsidy amount) when it comes through. This needs to be formalised in the provincial housing policy guidelines.

Removing the obscurity

The discussion about women's shelter models indicates that there are many different funding arrangements already in existence or that could be adapted for use. It is not easy to find out what funding is available from which department and for what services. At the very least, those departments in each province funding women's shelters should get together and make known to the public what bundle of funding is available and how to apply for it.

Bottom up approach should be adopted

Rather than waiting for government to deliver and to change its policies, the shelter sector should initiate and implement projects in the provinces aimed at nudging government towards a more facilitative funding and policy environment. KZN is an example of how a bottom-up approach can create shifts in government's approach. There, grass roots organisations simply have been initiating a variety of projects and have been lobbying and pressurising the Provincial Housing Department to fund these. As stated in Section 4, seventeen projects have been funded by the Department within the special needs programme. Other provinces should start getting projects off the ground and begin pressurising their provincial housing departments to assist with capital funding.

B Policy Recommendations

The NDoH policy must be clearly defined

National policy is required for all groups that have particular housing needs. The NDoH should prepare a policy for all groups that have particular housing requirements, including abused women. It is currently doing this, but it is imperative that abused women's housing features as centrally in this policy as housing for other groups, such as AIDs orphans and homeless people.

A national programme with detailed implementation guidelines should be made part of the National Housing Code. Such a programme should enable NGOs which provide women's shelters to access funding for:

1. first stage shelter using the transitional housing subsidy;
2. second stage shelter, also using the transitional housing subsidy; and
3. third stage shelter. The subsidy for third stage shelter should be the institutional subsidy for communal housing or the new social housing subsidy.

Provinces should administer these programmes in such a manner as to make them accessible and understandable to NGOs.

Transitional Housing Programme should cease being a pilot. While the NDoH is deliberating about new policies, it must make the Transitional Housing Programme a national programme with immediate effect. This would mean that all provinces would be able to implement it immediately. National guidelines on this policy should be prepared. These should be flexible enough to cater for the various stages of accommodation described previously and catering for domestic scale accommodation and home based scenarios where this is preferred.

Emergency programme should be extended. The national emergency housing programme should be extended to allow service providers which accommodate women in crisis to access government funding for emergency shelters. Currently these facilities are generally not funded by the Department of Housing.

The Department of Social Development must communicate its policies more adequately to stakeholders, and its policies should be clarified

Creating uniformity. Service providers would benefit from a consistent, transparent approach to funding shelters which is not subject to the vagaries of politics and changing political priorities. Transparency and consistency should be the hallmark of policy and funding.

User-friendly policy. The Department of Social Development should ensure that its policies are user-friendly. They should be simplified, made more transparent and accessible and be published widely so that everyone clearly understands how to access funding.

Phased approach. The Department of Social Development should adapt its policy to recognise phases of accommodation. Each requires different funding, different programmes and different business plans because the imperatives of each are different. For instance, the second stage model requires greater emphasis on programmes than third stage accommodation. Third stage facilities can recover some expenses by charging rent. Yet such facilities may still require some Social Development funding to assist with programmes. These issues require investigation as they would fine tune the existing policy to reflect the housing ladder approach to abused women's accommodation requirements.

Provincial monitoring. Respondents have said that one of the problems facing the sector is the dubious, fly-by-night operators opening shelters. These are unmonitored by any authority and no standards are applied. Provincial departments of Social Development should continue to process applications, approve funding and play a monitoring role. This works well. Where there are particular best practices, these should be replicated. For example, the Gauteng Department of Social Development assists NGOs where it identifies weaknesses to become financially viable, instead of de-registering them. A stick-like approach should be avoided and instead monitoring should be non-punitive and aimed at facilitating improved service delivery.

The Role of Local Authorities

Policies must be developed. Local authorities have an important contribution to make to women's shelters. They should develop consistent and transparent policies on rates rebates and reductions, and on service charges.

Monitoring Role. Local authorities have a monitoring role to play. Their health departments and planning departments need to indicate exactly what their role is so that this is known to applicants. In Johannesburg, the Health Department inspects shelters to ensure that they comply with health standards. Moreover, as was mentioned earlier, building inspection and planning approval is a prerequisite for a shelter to be developed. Currently child care facilities and crèches are inspected by local authorities and it seems appropriate that women's shelters should have to be registered with local authorities and be inspected by them on an ongoing basis. Certain standards could be stipulated, possibly in by-laws, and local authorities could send inspectors to check on compliance at regular intervals. This monitoring role could be developed with provincial departments of Social Development so as to avoid any duplication. The points about non-punitive monitoring, mentioned above, apply equally here.

Local government guidelines. Perhaps local authorities should publish guidelines and step-by-step procedures for NGOs to assist them manage the process of trying to set up shelters. Such guidelines should specify exactly what role local government plays and which department is responsible for what.

Perhaps because local government is the starting point for anyone wanting to start a shelter, it should have available a summary of all funding available from all the different national and provincial government sources to give to applicants.

The new Social Housing Programme enhanced subsidy should be available for women's shelters

Enhanced subsidies. The Social Housing Programme is to provide an enhanced housing subsidy, far higher than the current institutional housing subsidy of about R34 000 per beneficiary, to use for rental and cooperative housing in specially designated areas. These areas, termed restructuring zones, are characterised by the presence of mixed income groups, job opportunities, good transport nodes and other infrastructure. Because these areas are on expensive land, the cost of housing in such areas is beyond the reach of poorer people. However, those housing projects in restructuring zones that make more than 30% of their housing units available to people earning between R1 500 and R3 500, will receive a higher amount of capital subsidy. The policy states that on average, rentals for this income band should be about R825 per month.

Extending enhanced subsidies to transitional and communal housing projects. At the time of writing, the extension of this enhanced subsidy to transitional housing and communal housing projects is being mooted. Organisations engaging in 'special needs' projects could initiate transitional housing projects or communal housing projects in restructuring zones that would also enable them to apply for the enhanced subsidy. This would make such projects more viable.

6. Conclusion

Everyone has an entitlement to be housed, whether they are abused women, people in crisis because of HIV or AIDS, orphans or child-headed households, or households with ill family members. If they are poor they require state-assisted, or public, housing. In recognition of this, the Department of Housing would appear to be investigating a number of new programmes and policies. There has to be a shift away from subsidised housing being made primarily available the nuclear, heterosexual family and recognition of the fact that diverse family types, living arrangements and patterns exist in South Africa. Housing products should be available that suit all the diverse conglomerations. Breaking New Ground has set out a framework which creates an imperative towards innovative, needs-driven housing products. Now is the time for these to be considered in a systematic manner.

While the policy terrain is open-ended and subject to review and innovation, an excellent opportunity presents itself to fund women's shelters and create programmes that address this particular sector's needs. Service providers should initiate projects to test the possibilities in the provinces and lobby for funding and assistance.

As this report has shown, shelter for abused women could take a variety of forms. There is a space for large institutions to provide women with both first stage and second stage shelter. But there is also an argument for small-scale, domestic settings. Funding should be available for many forms of accommodation and the Department of Housing approach should be aimed at diversity and innovation. Its programmes should cover the costs of purchase and refurbishment/development of properties for women's shelters, their renovation and extension, when appropriate, and ongoing capital maintenance support.

Department of Social Development funding should contribute to operational costs and special programmes, while local government needs to develop a uniform and standardised policy setting out the nature and extent of its assistance to shelters. Monitoring should become an essential part of government's approach to women's shelters so that secondary victimisation in facilities operated by unscrupulous operators is avoided. Clear guidelines setting out all the different roles of the government and NGOs are required to assist all stakeholders to identify their roles. If all these proposals were to be acted on, there is no doubt that a significant impact would be made on delivery.

References

Charlton, S (2004) An Overview of the Housing Policy and Debates, Particularly in Relation to Women (Or Vulnerable Groupings). Research Report written for the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation.

Department of Housing (2004) Breaking New Ground: A Comprehensive Plan for the Development of Sustainable Human Settlements (unpublished)

Department of Social Development (2003). Policy Framework and Strategy for Shelters for Victims of Domestic Violence in South African.

Department of Social Development (2005/2006). Business Plan, Application for Funding.

eThekwini Municipality and Project Preparation Trust of KwaZulu Natal (2005) Framework for the Provision of Housing Subsidies for Special Needs Housing (including HIV AIDS Relief). Submission to the National Department of Housing.

Gauteng Provincial Legislature. Gauteng Housing Act, No 6 of 1998.

Government of South Africa. Housing Act, No 107 of 1997.

Government of South Africa. State Land Disposal Act, No 48 of 1961.

Government of South Africa. Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act, No. 108 of 1996.

Gauteng Department of Housing. Interim Guidelines for the Subsidisation of Transitional Shelters.

Lund, C, Ramogayane, R, Poulson, L, Brand, D (2004) Exploring Transitional and Communal Housing as Form of Social Housing in South Africa. Social Housing Foundation Research Series.

National Department of Housing. The National Housing Code. http://www.housing.gov.za

Operation Job Creation, 2005.

Poulson, L (2000) The Transitional Housing Programme for the Inner City Homeless Community of Johannesburg. Paper presented at Urban Futures 2000 conference, Johannesburg, 10–14 July.

Rondganger, L (2006, May 10) "From Den of Iniquity to model inner housing project." The Star, p. 3.

"The Housing Continuum" (2006, January February). SA Property Review, p. 6.

Wicht, A (2006) Special Needs Housing – Developing an Approach for Policy Guidelines. For Rooftops Canada.

Yeast City Housing: http://www.tlf.org.za

Shelters that participated in this research

Gauteng
Alberton Methodist Care and Relief Enterprise (AMCARE)
Bethanie
The House
Usindiso Ministries
Bienvenu
Ikhaya Lethemba One Stop Centre
The Potters House
Eldorado Park Women's Forum

Free State
Goldfields Family Advice Organisation
Tshirelso People Against Abuse
Bolakanang Support Centre
Serobe Crisis Centre

KZN
Advice Desk for the Abused
Esther House

Western Cape
St. Anne's Homes
United Sanctuary Against Abuse

Mpumalanga
Louiville Support Centre

Interviews/discussions

Joan Groenewald – National Department of Social Development
Peet Human – Gauteng Department of Social Development
Chris Lund – Madulamoho Housing Association
André Meyering – National Department of Public Works
Mark Misselhorn – Project Preparation Trust, KwaZulu Natal
K. Sedumedi – Gauteng Department of Public Works
17 shelter providers

Workshops/meetings

Transitional and Special Needs Housing Forum, 23rd May 2006. Hosted by Social Housing Foundation.

Annexure 1

The Institutional Housing Subsidy

Persons eligible for the housing subsidy

Five criteria are considered to be relevant, which a person must fulfil to be eligible for this subsidy.

• The person must be married or have financial dependents.
• The person must be lawfully resident in South Africa (i.e. a citizen or in possession of a permanent resident permit).
• The person must be over 21 years of age.
• The monthly household income must not exceed R3 500 and in the case of institutional housing subsidies the preferred limit is R2 500.
• The person must not yet have benefited from government funding.

Because the institutional housing subsidy is paid to an institution, the institution, rather than the beneficiary is the central focus of the government in awarding the subsidy. It has to be shown that the housing institution has the capacity and ability to provide ongoing, long term management services of the housing stock. A great deal of concern is taken when awarding these subsidies to ensure that the institution is competent and properly set up.

Some of the requirements that an institutions must meet are as follows:

4. It must be legally set up as a company.
5. The main object must be to provide housing and the company is not permitted to carry on any other business activity.
6. The institution has to demonstrate that it has the required capacity to undertake the project which means it has to demonstrate that it is financially viable and that it has the management skill to implement the project successfully and that once it has been paid the subsidy the institution will be able to fund the ongoing maintenance and operational costs of the property (or raise the required funding to do so through various sources such as rents, funding, government grants, etc).
7. The institution must own the property being developed or have long term enforceable rights to the property.
8. The institution must have a system in place that gives occupants some representation on the institution's board or management structure, so that the occupants have a way to ensure their views are taken into account.
9. The institution must provide secure tenure in terms of a lease agreement.
10. The types of developments that are likely to be awarded this subsidy are new developments or upgrading of properties. The subsidy can also be used to purchase a property that does not require upgrading.
11. The institution must provide secure tenure in terms of a lease agreement.

The institutional subsidy is available to institutions which must apply to the provincial housing board in their provinces. The type of information that is required in the application is as follows –

1. Details about the institution.
2. Details about the property including the proposed work to be undertaken, the manner in which the project is to be financed, management ability which shows that the project will be managed properly and programme milestones.
3. The total subsidy amount being applied for with a detailed calculation of how this is determined.
4. The rental income that will become payable in terms of the lease and a copy of any proposed lease agreement that may be entered, which must comply with rental legislation.
5. The product price of the space that residents will occupy.
6. The progress payments that will be made during the development phase of the project.
7. The manner in which occupants will participate in the management structures.
8. Plans of the facility and residential units.
9. Proof of (National Home Builders Registration Council) NHBRC registration and details of warranties that will be given in respect of building defects.
10. A list of all professional consultants and contractors that will be used to plan, design and execute the project.
11. The construction approach that will be used.
12. Copies of the proposed agreement that will be entered between the institution and beneficiaries.
13. A detailed project motivation.

The provincial housing department, once it has received applications that comply as set out above, use the following criteria, among others, to assess projects.

1. The extent to which the project satisfies the housing needs of an identified and targeted market and the relative urgency of such needs. The emphasis must be on beneficiaries earning below R2 500.
2. The extent of construction and upgrading required. Preference will be given to projects that create new housing stock or upgrade housing as opposed to those applications for purchase only.
3. The extent to which the project promotes holistic development and provides for a variety of community needs.
4. The extent to which community self management is promoted and capacity building within the beneficiary community through deliberate initiatives to enable them to acquire skills, takes place.
5. The degree to which the project promotes the sustained physical and social development of the community with reference to the nature and scope of the amenities, facilities and opportunities provided by the project.
6. The extent to which the project contributes to employment by using emerging building contractors and labour insensitive building methods.
7. The extent to which the planning and design reflects innovative and well considered planning and design parameters.
8. The degree of affordability of rentals and other charges.
9. The compatibility of the project with its surroundings.
10. The extent to which the construction methods employed in the project are effective, viable and practicable in relation to the project site.
11. The extent to which the state funding is shown to be used in the most economic and effective manner.
12. The extent to which the project will contribute to optimising the longer term social and economic benefits of the target community.
13. The extent to which the municipality and other stakeholders support the project.
14. Whether the beneficiaries gets value for money in terms of the product, rentals, etc.
15. Whether the property being developed affords easy access to employment, education and health care, has access to transportation and directs development toward existing economic opportunities.

Annexure 2

The Minimum Standards for Service Delivery in Shelters

These standards cover a range of matters, most of which are described below –

1. The treatment of a person on admission to a shelter must be managed carefully so that the person is made to feel welcome and safe.
2. The information given to the person being admitted about the facility, staff, rules of the shelter, safety, care provisions etc must be transparent and empowering.
3. The safety and security standards of the shelter must ensure that the person entering is safe physically, socially and emotionally.
4. The rights of people entering shelters must be communicated to them as well as their responsibilities.
5. The manner in which people in shelters can make complaints and voice their concerns must be made clear.
6. The physical environment must be safe, healthy, well-maintained and provide appropriate access to the community and also meet the needs for privacy, safety and well being. Here provision must be made for women to have their own bed, private space for possessions, access to clean ablutions etc.
7. Shelters must ensure that occupants and staff are safe from risk of fire, accidents and other hazards.
8. Occupants of shelters must have access to and receive adequate health care.
9. The shelter must enhance the spirit, dignity, individuality and development of occupants by a number of actions, including the provision of training, support and empowerment.
10. A Care Plan must be developed for each occupant based on an assessment process, that aims to provide life-long relationships within their family or appropriate alternatives, and re-integration into the community within the shortest possible time frame.
11. An individual development plan (IDP) must be prepared in writing for each occupant.
12. Therapeutic support and/or special services as indicated in the IDP must be made available to occupants.
13. Appropriate education must be made available to occupants and their children.
14. Women in shelters must be provided with appropriate rituals, programmes, and support to enable their effective transition into their family and community ensuring successful integration.

Business Plan requirements

The following information must be contained, among other things, in the Business Plan:

1. The nature of the institution – NPO, NGO, CBO, etc.
2. Programme details, including history of programme, target group, involvement of beneficiaries in the programme, purpose of programme.
3. The objectives of the service being offered must be set out linked to the target community and number of beneficiaries that will benefit.
4. An activity plan for each objective including performance indicators, outcomes, numbers to be reached, location and projected costs must be included.
5. A budget must be included broken down into personnel costs, administration, operational, training and development and other.
6. Details of all people involved in the governance structure of the institution must be given.
7. A profile of all staff members.
8. A profile of all volunteers must be given, what they do and whether they receive stipends or not and what activities they undertake.
9. The capacity of the organisation must be assessed.
10. Any affiliation with other service providers or entities must be provided.
11. A sustainability plan must be furnished that indicates how the organisation applying for funding will sustain itself to ensure continued service provision, particularly if funds for the Department of Social Development are ceased or cut.
12. The contribution of beneficiaries to the programme through fees, material, labour, skills, etc must be set out.
13. A transformation plan must be given.
14. Financial information must be given including the name of the person who manages the finances and records and the training he or she has undergone. Assets must be stipulated and liabilities, on a spread sheet. A summary of project income and expenditure for three financial years must be given.
15. Other funders must be identified and details given of the funds awarded and for what period.
16. A monitoring and evaluation plan must be set out.

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