Residents must work with City of Cape Town as we try to bring about housing redress, says councillor Siyabulela Mamkeli.
Cape Town - The article “Ire as arrears threaten Ocean View tenants” of July 21 refers (See related articles below).
The impression is created that the City of Cape Town, without prior warning or intensive engagement, set an unrealistic and unreasonable deadline for the payment of all rental arrears before the proposed beneficiaries of the Ocean View Stone Housing Project could be considered as qualifying beneficiaries. This impression is absolutely incorrect.
To put the facts straight: the city has been in continual engagement with the proposed beneficiaries. In fact, the engagements started in 2011.
According to city policy, identified beneficiaries may not have outstanding rental arrears if they are to qualify for a subsidised house.
In the case of Ocean View, some of the identified beneficiaries are city tenants who are on the housing database and who have signed lease agreements with the city.
They have an obligation to pay their monthly rental in terms of this agreement and some of them failed to do so. In terms of national policy, provision is made for rental as a means to provide housing opportunities, which these tenants have already benefited from.
They now have been offered the opportunity to become property owners in this development.
It is of the utmost importance that the city protects a fair and systematic approach to the delivery of housing opportunities. Since extensive communication happened over the past few years, it is only sensible that the arrears be settled before the second housing opportunity is taken up.
There are approximately 50 tenants who have been identified for the project in terms of the city’s Housing Allocation Policy. There are approximately 35 tenants who have arrears of more than R1 000; 15 have no arrears or arrears amounting to less than R1 000.
As far back as 2011, when screening sessions started and some of the tenants were identified as possible beneficiaries, they were advised to square their rental arrears or make arrangements at the Ocean View housing office. In fact, many heeded the call.
Some became recipients of the city’s indigent policy, whereby all arrears are written off if a payment arrangement is entered into. These residents would then only pay what they can afford, but the agreement is that they will pay – even if it is R10 or R20 a month. Some, however, did not honour this agreement even when their debt was written off.
In 2012 when the beneficiaries started signing deeds of sale, they were once again reminded to pay their arrears. Housing Consumer Education training sessions were also held with the beneficiaries whereby the qualifying tenants were told to pay or to make arrangements at the local housing office.
The local housing office staff also interviewed and visited some of the tenants to create awareness of what was going to be expected and to alert them to the conditions attached to moving to the new BNG (Breaking New Grounds) houses. Engagements have therefore been ongoing since 2011.
As a caring city, we have many policies in place, such as our indigent policy, to aid those who struggle. We are trying our best to deliver housing opportunities as a means of bringing redress, but we need residents to work with us and to co-operate.
This is the only way that we will be able to make progress possible.
* Councillor Siyabulela Mamkeli is Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements of the City of Cape Town.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Newspapers.
Cape Times