31 March 2010
The Eastern Cape housing department is piloting an innovative housing voucher system that enables beneficiaries to claim subsidies to acquire building materials to build their own homes.
Provincial Human Settlements Minister Nombulelo Mabandla said the voucher system was aimed at speeding up housing delivery in poorer rural communities. The voucher programme will be piloted at the Umzimvubu and Intsika Yethu municipalities in April.
People’s Housing Process
Human Settlements spokesperson Lwandile Sicwetsha said the department would also be reviving the People’s Housing Process, an initiative aimed at scaling up rural housing development in the province with the implementation of 29 approved projects valued at R696-million.
“The department is also planning to deliver 2 114 units in both the OR Tambo and Alfred Nzo district municipalities, with a budget totalling R117-million this financial year,” Sicwetsha said.
“This is part of the department’s rural development plan to create integrated human settlements for poor people living in deep rural areas in the province.”
The department hopes to build 22 000 units in the 2010/11 financial year, a move that will see 88 000 destitute people with roofs over their heads.
Source: BuaNews
