OWN CORRESPONDENT, Durban | Friday 9.00am.
THE government will raise its low-cost housing subsidies by R1000 across the board from next April, Housing Minister Sankie Mtembi-Mahanyele announced on Thursday. The increase is to offset the effects of inflation and a consequent rise in the price of building materials.
Speaking at the Institute for Housing of South Africa conference in Durban, Mtembi-Mahanyele said that the two brackets of housing subsidies set in 1994 — the R12500 and R15000 subsidies — will rise by R1000, an added cost of up to R150-million a year for the government.
Since the department’s housing subsidies scheme started in April 1994, she said, provincial governments have received at least R7,3-billion in housing allocations. “In the current financial year R2,9-billion has been allocated to the nine provincial governments to finance housing projects.”
As a result of insufficient funds — exacerbated by a significant cut in the department’s budget this year — provincial governments have been forced to renegotiate some of their contractual obligations. She said her department will continue to lobby for an increased housing allowance and is also going to look to foreign donors for assistance.