at the Parliamentary Media Briefing week, Cape Town
7 February 2006
HOUSING INPUT TO THE SOCIAL CLUSTER MEDIA BRIEFING
Today was an inspection of District Six where a part of the N2 Gateway
Project is being implemented. The project forms part of a number of projects
being implemented for the Comprehensive Plan on Sustainable Human
Settlements.
In the City of Cape Town the delivery rate on the N2 Gateway Project will
increase with the appointment of Thubelisha Homes to assist with project
management and the construction of houses. After the launch of the project on
16 February the first residents will take ownership of their homes.
Projects for the Comprehensive Plan are making significant progress. In
Gauteng, the first 441 families on the government subsidy housing and 25
families in the bonded houses have taken residence at Cosmo City. This human
settlement project is a model of integration of different income groups. When
the project is completed a total of 5000 subsidised households, 3000 credit
link subsidy beneficiaries, 1000 social housing or institutional housing and
3300 bonded houses families will reside happily next to each other, phase one
of this project is already sold out.
Provinces and municipalities are also intensifying delivery through the
immediate implementation of the temporary emergency housing programme. In this
regard they are in a process of identifying pilot projects. In the Western Cape
pilot projects have been identified in Bardale in Mfuleni and Happy Valley in
Oostenberg. The Temporary Housing Programme will see the delivery of 200 000
temporary units in 2007/8 to accommodate people living in areas of stress while
they await the provision of permanent housing units.
Discussions with banks on the implementation of the details of the R42
billion that was agreed to are still continuing. Delays in reaching an
agreement are due to discussions on the issues of guarantees and risk.
Notwithstanding, implementation guidelines have been approved for
implementation. According to the guidelines all individuals who earn between R3
501 â R7 000 who qualify for a bond will receive a once off subsidy which is a
sliding percentage of their approved bond by the bank. The Department of
Housing will transfer the subsidy amount to the bank on registration of the
bond. This new subsidy will revitalise the secondary market and also open
opportunities for construction companies and developers to produce housing
stock for those who earn between R3 501 â R7 000.
The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) was asked last year
to place a moratorium on the sale of state land in order to ensure that human
settlements are built on land that is close to all basic amenities, to benefit
the poor. SALGA agreed in principle and began consulting its membership on
implementation. The City of Cape Town is the first municipality to publicly
endorse the moratorium. Meanwhile, at the Departmental level steps are being
taken to establish a special purpose vehicle that will play the leading role in
acquiring and delivering well-located land for use for housing in conjunction
with Municipalities. Progress is also being made in discussions with government
departments and parastatals for the identification and the release of
well-located land for housing. More details in this regard will be made
available during the housing budget vote for 2006/007.
The process for the transformation of the mandate of the National Housing
Finance Corporation (NHFC) that will enable the institution to deepen and
broaden housing finance to the lower and middle-income groupings is at an
advanced stage. By the beginning of 2007, as a bank, the institution will
directly be delivering the first batch of consumer related products to both low
income and middle-income earners.
Lastly, a plenary meeting on the Social Contract is taking place on 16
March. The meeting will look into the detailed research that has just been
completed on the proposal for the private sector to contribute a 20% of their
developments into affordable housing. In accordance with the spirit of the
Social Contract both government and the private sector commissioned the
research.
Issued by: Department Social Development
7 February 2006
