Cape Times: Less than 2% on list will get a proper place to live – city

And Lindiwe Sisulu recommended a ‘politics of patience’….

http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5142336

18 years to overcome backlog
Less than 2% on list will get a proper place to live – city

August 28, 2009 Edition 2

ANÉL LEWIS

LESS than 2 percent of people on the city’s housing list will be assured of getting a housing opportunity because of delivery constraints, says the City of Cape Town.

And it would take the city 18 years to overcome its housing backlog if it could deliver 38 000 houses annually.

The city’s delivery rate is about 10 000 houses a year.

This means that many of the city’s 180 000 backyard dwellers living on the property of council rental stock are being forced to pay the tenants high rentals with no lease agreement or surety of residence.

ACDP councillor Vincent Bergh has recommended the city enter into lease agreements with these backyard dwellers “who are left at the mercy” of its tenants.

By doing nothing to stop the practice, the city council was “aiding and abetting” its tenants in charging “enormous” amounts of rent, he said.

In terms of the proposed lease agreement, only the city would be able to collect rent and evict backyard dwellers from council rental stock.

Bergh said the provision for lease agreements with backyard dwellers should be included in the city’s amended housing allocation policy. His recommendation for lease agreements was referred to the city’s housing portfolio committee for further discussion.

The city’s revised housing allocation policy determines the filling of vacancies in existing rental stock and selection of tenants for new housing developments. It has been revised after being referred back to the housing portfolio committee for further investigation, and now does not stipulate a 70/30 split between informal settlement and backyard dwellers in the selection of new beneficiaries.

Instead, tenants for new housing developments will be chosen on a “project-specific” split. Those who have been waiting the longest on the city’s housing list will be considered first, while those with an income of more than R7 000 will not qualify for council rental accommodation.

Priority will be given to applications in areas within a determined radius of the proposed new development and who have been on the waiting list the longest.

The policy is clear that councillors, sub-councils, non-government organisations, individuals and community organisations “shall play no role” in the procedures relating to the issuing of housing application or housing subsidy forms in the allocation of houses in new housing projects if they are not members of the specific project committee.

The ID has asked for more information about who will determine the project-specific split for housing allocation.

anel.lewis@inl.co.za