Government works to build six million houses

© Matt Ragen – 123RF.com

The minister was chairing the Social Protection, Community and Human Development Cluster media briefing in Pretoria on Monday, 12 December. The briefing was aimed at giving an update on the progress made in the second quarter towards achieving the goals of the National Development Plan (NDP): Vision 2030.

“We are excited that over 56% of our housing beneficiaries are women,” Dlamini said.

Government this year celebrated the delivery of over 4.3-million houses and subsidies.

Government has set a target of upgrading informal settlements and improving the living conditions of 750,000 households by 2019.

According to Dlamini, as of 30 September 2016, a total of 205,782 households were upgraded. The Department of Human Settlements, together with the nine provinces and all the metros, have identified interventions that will fast track the delivery of this target.

“One of the decisions taken was to establish a credible database of all informal settlements with detailed information on the level of services in each, the planning and tenure status and the proposed funding sources,” the minister said.

Dlamini said as government, they are tasked with the responsibility of increasing the number of home loans granted by the private sector and Human Settlements’ Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) to households in the affordable housing market.