Welcome to the City of Johannesburg UISP Stakeholder & Community Portal

This portal supports the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme (UISP) by enabling officials, and partners to collaborate, track progress, and shape their neighborhoods. 

What is UISP?

The Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme (UISP) is one of fourteen housing programmes contained in Part 3 of the National Housing Code. It emphasises preference for in-situ upgrading over relocations and supports an incremental, infrastructure-led approach.
The key objective of this programme is to facilitate the structured in-situ upgrading of informal settlements as opposed to relocation, to achieve the following complex and interrelated policy objectives:

    •    Tenure Security: to enhance the concept of citizenship by recognising and formalising the tenure rights of residents within informal settlements;
    •    Health and Security: to promote the development of healthy and secure living environments by facilitating the provision of affordable and sustainable basic municipal engineering infrastructure; and
    •    Empowerment: to address social and economic exclusion by focusing on community empowerment, promoting social and economic integration, and building social capital through participative processes.

In summary, UISP is the national housing programme that operationalises the government’s commitment to in-situ, incremental upgrading of informal settlements — prioritising security of tenure, access to basic services, and community empowerment as central outcomes of sustainable human settlements.