The Department of Human Settlements -- through the National Housing Finance Cooperation (NHFC) -- has announced its funding support for two 100% black-owned developers to provide student accommodation in the Western Cape.
The funding is meant to alleviate the student accommodation challenge in that province.
Addressing the debate on the State of the Nation Address (SONA) held in Parliament on Wednesday, Human Settlements Minister Thembi Simelane announced that the first project in Belhar has received a funding facility of R40 million to construct accommodation that can host 136 beds.
“The second project in Parrow for a building that started out as an affordable housing development programme, which received a R170 million facility, has since been converted into student accommodation with 927 beds,” Simelane said.
The department, through the National Housing Finance Cooperation, has also partnered with some of the Traditional Authorities in the provinces, with a number of projects currently underway in the eThekwini, Umkhanyakude and Umgungundlovu District Municipalities.
In Inanda, north of Durban, Inkosi Mqiqi Ngcobo is allocating pieces of land to residents to build their homes with support from First Home Finance (FHF), with 59 houses completed, and 60 anticipated by the end of financial year.
In Ndwedwe Local Municipality, under ILembe District Municipality, Ngcobo -- from Umlamula Traditional Council, Ozwathini -- has also allocated pieces of land for households to build their homes with FHF assistance, with nine completed houses and 18 at enrolment stage.
Over 5 000 first time home buyers assisted
The Minister also highlighted progress on the provision of subsidies for first time home buyers, who were proceed out of the market, as per President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call during 2024 State of the Nation Address.
Simelane said the department exceeded all the targets in the 2023/24 financial year, with 5 082 households being assisted through the First Home Finance.
The Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP), now known as the First Home Finance (FHF) Programme assists qualifying citizens whose household income is from R3 501 up to R22 000 per month.
The Minister said the outlook for the financial year 2024/25, indicates that the targets will be met in the first six months of the current financial year, with the entire budget used to support the qualifying beneficiaries to own a home for the first time in their lives.
“Going forward, the department plans to disburse 140 000 gap market subsidies through First Home Finance (FHF) and other financial mechanisms, to enable middle-income households to access housing near economic centres. This programme fits in with the future of human settlement policy trajectory in that citizens can buy houses for the first time on their own aided by government,” Simelane said.
Spotlight on provision of title deeds
The Minister announced the department will focus on the provision of title deeds to the citizens by simplifying and streamlining the issuing of title deeds and introducing a special dispensation, where the municipalities could ask the department of Cooperative Governance to exempt specific cases from the provisions of Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA), in respect to the undeclared townships.
“This step will assist in the acceleration of land tenure security and enable homeowners to leverage property assets for wealth creation, restoring dignity, the department plans to issue 80 000 title deeds in the five years.
“We will also meet the targets the President spoke about regarding provision of serviced stands by earmarking a portion of funds available in the Human Settlements Grants across all provinces and metros in the coming financial year,” Simelane said. – SAnews.gov.za
