Housing subsidies to increase
2005-03-14 11:59
Cape Town - The housing subsidy for the poorest
of
the poor - including the indigent, disabled and the elderly - has been
raised
from R28 279 to R31 900 as from April this year.
Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu made the announcement in Pretoria -
beamed
by satellite to Cape Town - on Monday morning.
For those who are earning between R1 500 and R3 500 a month, the
subsidy
will be R29 400 requiring an own contribution of R2 479. If this cannot
be
afforded by the recipient household, then the household is expected to
contribute "sweat equity" to the building project.
While she did not divulge how many subsidies were expected to be
delivered,
she said the target was for "the eradication" of informal housing by 2015.
Siulu said in addition to providing subsidies for new houses, "we are
also
in the process of assessing the houses built between 1994 and 2002".
Houses that were shoddily built would be dealt with by taking the matter
up
with the developers.
From April 1 her department would be putting in place "a series of
mechanisms" to address the upgrading of houses built before March 15, 1994 -
the apartheid era - to bring them in line with the intentions of current
human
settlement plans.
She said she had recently visited Langa township in Cape
Town
and had been appalled by the housing which had been sold to households with
the
knowledge that the housing was too expensive to maintain.
Waiting lists
Sisulu said in consultation with the Auditor General Shauket Fakie "we
will
be undertaking an exercise to validate the waiting lists (for housing)
across
the country".
This would be done to ensure that there were consolidated lists, that
there
was integrity to the lists and that people had confidence in them.
"At the end of the process, the integrity of the data would be such that
it can relate to the data being held by other departments such as home affairs and social development and that we can be able to project into the future in respect of the housing needs and plan better," she said.
"As a priority, this process will begin in the Western Cape and in Cape Town in particular where the N2 (Gateway) Project is currently underway," she said.
Noting that President Thabo Mbeki had given her department the task of
speeding up the delivery of housing "by reversing the trend in some
provinces
where there has been a slow-down", the minister said: "I am happy to
announce
that we are making some progress."
She said her department's expenditure as at the end of January was up to 71% from 58% at the same time last year. She expected spending to reach 95%
by the end of the financial year - March 31.
Sisulu noted the recent announcement that her director general Mpumi Mpofu was to be deployed to the transport department as from Tuesday - March 15
- SAPA