MINISTRY OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES (NCOP)
QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO.: 76
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 20 MARCH 2015
Ms T G Mpambo-Sibhukwana (Western Cape-DA) to ask the Minister of Human
Settlements:
(1) Whether, with reference to her departmentâs Breaking New Ground Plan,
all (a) provincial Human Settlement Departments and (b) municipalities
use the standardised set of the national criteria to determine the
success or disqualification of an application for state-subsidised
housing; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) whether any measures are in place to ensure that applications from
current inhabitants of areas prioritised for state-subsidised housing
enjoy preference over applications from inhabitants of other
provinces; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
CW107E
REPLY
(1) Yes, the standard qualification criteria to access state housing
subsidy assistance through any of the existing National Housing
Programmes are prescribed in the National Housing Policy as contained
in the National Housing Code, 2009 and are equally applicable to all
provinces and municipalities. Apart from the standard qualification
criteria, each National Housing Programme also entails programme
specific qualification criteria that must be adhered to. For example,
it is standard criteria that in order to access a BNG house, a
beneficiary must be a lawful resident in South Africa (i.e. citizen of
the Republic of South Africa or in possession of a permanent residence
permit).
(2) The allocation of state-subsidised properties is based on local
housing lists. The National Housing Programmes provide for targeted
development in terms of which the housing projects are designed to
accommodate specific households that have been prioritised for housing
subsidy assistance. Project planning is based on socio-economic
surveys of the actual needs in the various areas of distress and the
projects are designed to accommodate the range of needs that are
recorded as well as the household qualification profile of the
targeted areas. The actual allocation preference criteria that will
be applicable for the specific projects are agreed to at project level
on a case by case basis between the Municipality and the Province as
the case may be. These preferential criteria refer to the priority
categories of beneficiaries that will be approached to apply for
housing subsidies as the houses are nearing completion and entail the
disabled, the aged and the most vulnerable cases.
Further, the National Guidelines for the process of selection,
invitation and subsidy application approval ware introduced. These
Guidelines propose a fair, equitable, transparent, and inclusive
process for the selection and subsidy application approval process.
The Guidelines also propose structures to oversee and manage the
section, screening and decision-making process.
The Honourable member would be aware that I have requested my
Department to develop a National Housing Needs Register for the
capturing of all housing needs in the Country. The key objective of
the National Housing Needs Register is to establish an integrated
database from which all provincial departments and/or municipalities
may draw housing needs data and from which persons who have registered
on the database, are invited to apply for housing subsidies as and
when new houses become available.
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