The vast majority of people still on the City of Cape Town's housing waiting list after 30 or more years are there because they don't want to move to drug and crime-infested areas such as Manenberg and Hanover Park.
Daphne King, communications manager for the City of Cape Town's housing directorate, said the older people, especially, were very specific about where they were prepared to live. The more sought-after suburbs were Kew Town, Bridgetown, Retreat and Grassy Park.
King said people would rather linger on the waiting list than move to remote areas far from economic activity.
"A flat in Kew Town is preferable to a house in Delft, for example," she said.
There are more than 300,000 applicants on the housing database, and an estimated 100,000 more who need housing but haven't registered yet.
King said that every month about 1 700 people were added to this list, which added up to 20,400 a year.
Last year the city was able to supply just over 9,000 units - nowhere near enough to make even a dent in the backlog.
"Sometimes it feels like we are wiping up under a dripping tap," King said.
She said the city had started buying up land and "banking it", but the release of land was a problem, as it was scarce and expensive.
Many applicants have also remained on the list, termed the Housing Need Database, for long periods of time because they had not updated their contact information. The city's existing housing policy - drawn up in 2004 - shows that an onus was placed on people who applied for housing to "inform council of any change to personal particulars and circumstances".
The policy refers to "dated information" on the database. "In many instances the contact details have changed, while in others the applicant's circumstances have changed, which may mean they no longer qualify for a subsidy."
The housing policy proposes "an ongoing registration process" to update information that was submitted in an original application.
The database that now forms the city's housing list has a long and complicated past due to differing policies within various local authorities and the fact that separate lists were not combined until recently.
The first waiting lists to be computerised were processed by the former Divisional Council of the Cape between 1983 and 1984 and contained about 10,000 applications.
A database that combined the various lists in existence was not established until June 2006. This is now controlled by Brian Shelton, the head of "Housing Information" at the city, and currently holds 322 619 applications for housing.
This figure has often been reported as "400,000" because this includes officials' estimate of 100,000 people living in informal settlements who have a "need" for housing but are not registered on the database.
The housing policy passed by the city to Weekend Argus has also allowed a partial clarification of the application process that has been in place for five years, but has appeared to many as unclear.
According to the document, to qualify for rental housing, "applicants cannot be the current owners of any property and their gross monthly income may not exceed R7 ,000 a month. They must be at least 18 years of age and able to legally contract."
The document states that to qualify for subsidised housing, applicants must meet guidelines set by the National Department of Housing, which stipulates that applicants "must be married or have other dependents"; neither applicants nor their partners may have owned a house before; and their combined income must not exceed R3 500 a month.
"The Provincial Housing Board" receives a list of new registrations every three months so it can confirm the eligibility of applicants. If someone is not eligible, then the province will inform both the individual concerned and the city, so that a note can be placed on the database.
The application for a particular housing project is a separate process to registration. Based on an indication from the province that they qualify for inclusion on the list, the city will send out confirmation to newly-registered individuals that they are on the database.
For each new housing project an "Initial Project List" is drawn up which comprises names of those who existed on the database. Anyone on the city's list who qualifies for subsidised housing may apply for a house, and the council is required to notify all those on the list who have requested housing in the geographical area of the project. Applications for this list will then be "taken on a first-come first-served basis".
This list will then be approved by the province once it again checks that all applicants are eligible and that the process was "fair and transparent". The province then forwards the approved list to the MEC responsible for housing, who will award the relevant subsidies.
"A full screening" is also conducted by government bodies, including the Deeds Office - to check property ownership - and the National Department of Home Affairs - to check marital status and identification numbers.
The policy also noted that an updated National Housing policy required a contribution of R2 479 from people applying for subsidised housing. Therefore, "those who save fastest are served first".
Housing officials said a "revised policy" had been drawn up and was waiting approval from the council.
- Cape Argus
Daphne King, communications manager for the City of Cape Town's housing directorate, said the older people, especially, were very specific about where they were prepared to live. The more sought-after suburbs were Kew Town, Bridgetown, Retreat and Grassy Park.
King said people would rather linger on the waiting list than move to remote areas far from economic activity.
| 'A flat in Kew Town is preferable to a house in Delft' |
There are more than 300,000 applicants on the housing database, and an estimated 100,000 more who need housing but haven't registered yet.
King said that every month about 1 700 people were added to this list, which added up to 20,400 a year.
Last year the city was able to supply just over 9,000 units - nowhere near enough to make even a dent in the backlog.
"Sometimes it feels like we are wiping up under a dripping tap," King said.
| 'In many instances the contact details have changed' |
Many applicants have also remained on the list, termed the Housing Need Database, for long periods of time because they had not updated their contact information. The city's existing housing policy - drawn up in 2004 - shows that an onus was placed on people who applied for housing to "inform council of any change to personal particulars and circumstances".
The policy refers to "dated information" on the database. "In many instances the contact details have changed, while in others the applicant's circumstances have changed, which may mean they no longer qualify for a subsidy."
The housing policy proposes "an ongoing registration process" to update information that was submitted in an original application.
The database that now forms the city's housing list has a long and complicated past due to differing policies within various local authorities and the fact that separate lists were not combined until recently.
The first waiting lists to be computerised were processed by the former Divisional Council of the Cape between 1983 and 1984 and contained about 10,000 applications.
A database that combined the various lists in existence was not established until June 2006. This is now controlled by Brian Shelton, the head of "Housing Information" at the city, and currently holds 322 619 applications for housing.
This figure has often been reported as "400,000" because this includes officials' estimate of 100,000 people living in informal settlements who have a "need" for housing but are not registered on the database.
The housing policy passed by the city to Weekend Argus has also allowed a partial clarification of the application process that has been in place for five years, but has appeared to many as unclear.
According to the document, to qualify for rental housing, "applicants cannot be the current owners of any property and their gross monthly income may not exceed R7 ,000 a month. They must be at least 18 years of age and able to legally contract."
The document states that to qualify for subsidised housing, applicants must meet guidelines set by the National Department of Housing, which stipulates that applicants "must be married or have other dependents"; neither applicants nor their partners may have owned a house before; and their combined income must not exceed R3 500 a month.
"The Provincial Housing Board" receives a list of new registrations every three months so it can confirm the eligibility of applicants. If someone is not eligible, then the province will inform both the individual concerned and the city, so that a note can be placed on the database.
The application for a particular housing project is a separate process to registration. Based on an indication from the province that they qualify for inclusion on the list, the city will send out confirmation to newly-registered individuals that they are on the database.
For each new housing project an "Initial Project List" is drawn up which comprises names of those who existed on the database. Anyone on the city's list who qualifies for subsidised housing may apply for a house, and the council is required to notify all those on the list who have requested housing in the geographical area of the project. Applications for this list will then be "taken on a first-come first-served basis".
This list will then be approved by the province once it again checks that all applicants are eligible and that the process was "fair and transparent". The province then forwards the approved list to the MEC responsible for housing, who will award the relevant subsidies.
"A full screening" is also conducted by government bodies, including the Deeds Office - to check property ownership - and the National Department of Home Affairs - to check marital status and identification numbers.
The policy also noted that an updated National Housing policy required a contribution of R2 479 from people applying for subsidised housing. Therefore, "those who save fastest are served first".
Housing officials said a "revised policy" had been drawn up and was waiting approval from the council.
- Cape Argus
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