City of Johannesburg Press Statement by MMC for Housing, Cllr Mzobanzi Ntuli
On 13 June 2017, I held a productive meeting with the leadership of Jabulani Hostel to discuss the housing challenges faced by them.
The visit forms part of a series of meetings I have been holding with various stakeholders and interested parties in order to address issues relating to the City’s housing backlog.
As part of the new administration’s 10-point plan to fast-track housing delivery within the City, and in an effort to reverse the poor service delivery experienced by residents under the previous administrations, I am pleased to announce that almost 110 housing units in three hostels in Jabulani, Orlando West, and Diepkloof are nearing their completion and will be allocated to beneficiaries.
As it currently stands, the City is looking at reallocating people currently living in the old Jabulani Hostel into new units. The new units are designed in line with the City’s spatial development policy where residents will be placed in family units.
Plans are currently underway to hand over the units to beneficiaries.
The community of Jabulani has also requested basic services such as water, electricity connections and tarred roads. These are basic services which the previous administration failed to provide as a result of a lack of political work and little concern for residents’ most basic needs.
Upon hearing this, I took it upon myself to communicate with the relevant entities of the City to find ways to bring water, light and roads to the community of Jabulani.
During the meeting, I assured the leadership of Jabulani Hostel of the City’s commitment towards ensuring that residents without decent housing are allocated a home which allows them and their families to lead dignified lives.
Indeed, the City has committed itself to ensuring that all completed housing units are allocated by November 2017. Further to this, the City is in the process of completing its audit of Johannesburg’s first ever Housing List. In the next few months, this list will be made public.
Additionally, R152 million has been allocated to the Johannesburg Social Housing Company (JOSHCO). The entity will also undertake repairs and maintenance of city hostels and flats which have withstood years of neglect.
Sadly, our reality as a City is that we face a growing housing backlog of over 300 000 units – the highest in the country – while experiencing ever decreasing grants from national and provincial government for the provision of housing.
Indeed, in the last financial year, the City was provided with a R411 million Housing Top Structures Grant, however, following the local government elections last year, Provincial Government immediately reduced this grant to R345 million in the 2016/17 adjustment budget.
In the 2017/18 financial year, Provincial Government further reduced this vital grant to R145 million. With this allocation from Provincial Government the City can only afford to build just over 1000 social housing units.
Despite this, we remain committed to working hard towards providing quality housing for residents within our financial constraints.
This includes the City’s recent allocation of R66 million towards Site and Service housing development. This involves the provision of fully serviced plots of land, onto which beneficiaries can be settled. These beneficiaries will immediately be provided with title deeds and be able to build their own homes on top of these serviced sites; a first for the City of Johannesburg.
For too long, our residents were forced to live in desperate circumstances due to past administrations’ failure to provide adequate housing.
Breaking from the past, we are doing business unusual. We are committed to reversing these circumstances, realising our residents’ constitutional right to housing and improving their overall welfare.
We will continue striving to restore the dignity our residents have been robbed of by past administrations.