The main focus of the Projects Department at Metro Housing is the implementation of Low-Income Housing Projects - ensuring the work actually takes place on the ground.

The Projects Department deals with various kinds of housing projects, but predominantly our work focuses on informal settlement upgrades and greenfields projects (development of raw land). The Department consists of Project Managers and Community Liaison Officers, as well as a Director and Administration Support Staff.

In some projects the Projects Department has been directly responsible for the delivery of projects, while in other projects we have facilitated development by other delivery agents.

Where Metro Housing has been involved in direct delivery, we have acted as the Developer and Project Manager responsible for the day-to-day management of a project. This involves co-ordinating a range of activities and professionals to ensure that, amongst other things, the land is made available, that funding is secured, that the engineering and house designs are approved, that the construction work occurs on site and that community input is successfully achieved. Examples of these projects include:

• Westrich Greenfields Project
   
• Burnwood Road Informal Settlement Upgrade
   
• Riverdene Greenfields Project 
   
• Briardene Informal Settlement Upgrade

Where Metro Housing has been involved in the facilitation of projects, we have assisted other Developers (such as Community based Organisations (CBO), Non-Govermental Organisations (NGO) and the Private Sector) with issues such as project approvals, ensuring bulk service provision occurs and providing access to Metro Housing's Strategic Programmes. Examples of projects which the Projects Department has facilitated include:

• Quarry Heights Project (funding, Council approval, beneficiaries);
   
• Amatikwe Project (funding);
   
• Bhambayi Project.

A major part of our facilitation work involves liaison and co-ordination with other Council Departments and the Provincial Department of Housing in order to ensure that housing projects (which are largely funded by the Province) are developed with the full support and input of the local authority. While this may seem an obvious function, it must be remembered that in the early years after the new Housing Policy was introduced in 1994, there was almost no municipal input into housing projects, resulting in many problems on the ground. In 1999 the Projects Department established a forum, known as the Working Group, where Council Departments (such as Environment, Engineering and Planning Departments) could have an input into proposed projects and where problems with existing housing projects could be resolved.

The Projects Department works closely with other Metro Housing Departments in order to ensure the successful completion of a project. For example, the Land Section is the key in dealing with many of the complex land-legal issues in projects, as well as in identifying and prioritising projects for implementation. We also work with the Research and Policy Section in formulating local level policy to deal with the many challenges faced in implementation. The Finance Department is a key player in processing payments on projects, while the Allocations Section handles all the administration related to allocations and beneficiary subsidy approvals.

Other implementing or delivery agents which the Projects Department works closely with are:

• First Metro Housing; 
   
• Cato Manor Development Association; and
   
• other Operational Entities of the city such as Inner West.