Minister discusses housing amendments with executives

GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - Newly appointed Western Cape Minister of Infrastructure Tertuis Simmers engaged mayors, deputy mayors and mayco members for human settlements from all the province's municipalities on Monday 25 April.

The aim of the engagement was to inform municipal executives about the various changes that have recently occurred within the human settlements space, as well as who is being prioritised for a fully state-subsidised / breaking new ground (BNG) house.

These amendments included the revised finance linked individual subsidy programme (Flisp) that is now called "Help me buy a home", and how more residents with a household income of between R3 501 and R22 000 can access this subsidy.

Previously, residents had to first obtain a mortgage before they could apply for this subsidy.

However, since 1 April this has now been delinked, which means that it can be accessed through other sources of funding.

These sources include:

• Housing loans granted or guaranteed by a pension and provident fund.

• Unsecured housing loans from any registered lender.

• Housing loans granted or guaranteed by cooperative- or community-based savings scheme, commonly known as stokvels.

• Housing loans supported by employer-based schemes.

Qualification criteria

The qualification criteria for social housing have also been slightly amended from R1 500 to R15 000 to a gross monthly income of R1 850 to R22 000. "This now ensures that more residents are able to access an opportunity within the rental space since with this offer a beneficiary will never own the home," said Simmers. "The rental payment in this option is 50% less than what is being charged within the market."

The 50 informal settlements that have been identified for a variety of upgrade interventions through the department's informal settlements upgrade partnership grant (ISUPG) were also highlighted.

The criteria for potentially qualifying for a BNG unit are:

• The elderly (60 years and older);

• Those living with a medically certified disability;

• Those longest on the housing demand database (15 years and longer);

• Backyard dwellers (this is unique to the Western Cape);

• Military veterans (the department only builds the houses - the entire administration process is managed by the National Department of Military Veterans);

• Child-headed households (still awaiting clarity from the national government).

These residents must be registered on the housing demand database (HDD).

"Municipalities are a critical cog in the delivery of human settlements opportunities and being in partnership with them is key for us. The engagement proved to be fruitful and our municipal executives are now better placed to take human settlements forward in their respective municipal areas," said Simmers.

"I'm now looking forward to further engaging councils across the province so that all councillors and relevant officials are equally empowered with the correct information. Human settlements is a concurrent function and the more we work together, the more we will be able to ensure the swift delivery of housing opportunities."

Infrastructure minister Tertuis Simmers with municipal executives during the engagement on human settlements matters.