Minister and Councillor to Inspect Emergency Housing Kits

Western Cape Provincial Government Human Settlements Minister, Bonginkosi Madikizela, and City of Cape Town Housing MAYCO Member Councillor, Ernest Sonnenberg, will inspect the emergency housing kits in Ndabeni at 11:00 on 24 August.

The Department of Human Settlements has recently approved an extra R10 million in funding to provide fire and flood kits. The money is supplied to the City of Cape Town, who buys the kits and makes them available to those in need of emergency housing.

People who lose their houses due to floods or fire beyond their control and are left destitute require emergency assistance and sometimes relocation. Most of those assisted are from informal settlements in the City of Cape Town.

Since the initial approval by the Provincial Department of Housing in 2004, various fund extensions have been granted with the intention of providing victims of floods and fire disasters with interim relief in the form of fire or flood kits and relocation assistance.

An amount of R10 million was allocated from December 2009 to July 2011. A total of 4 277 families were assisted during the last financial year (1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011) with 1 657 flood kits and 2 620 fire kits provided at a cost of just over R4 million. The amount has been increased by another R10 million until April 2012.

The Emergency Housing Programme came about due to problems highlighted through the Irene Grootboom Constitutional Court case, which stated that the various organs of State did not have a programme to help the most destitute and vulnerable in realising their right to access to housing.

On a provincial level, a similar strategy or mechanism is also used for all municipalities outside the Metropole (City of Cape Town) to aid victims of fires and flood. An amount of R5 million has been approved and is shared between the municipalities, based on the need within the respective municipal areas.

Minister Madikizela and Councillor Sonnenberg will be available for comments and photo opportunities at the depot.

- Cape Gateway