DURBAN - THE Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA) interim council visited three projects in KwaZulu-Natal as part of its cross-country tour.
The council on Tuesday went to the Aloe Ridge Social Housing Project in Pietermaritzburg, Lakehaven Social Housing Project in Newlands as well as the Tasvir Mansion Social Housing Project in Phoenix.
The SHRA is an agency of the Department of Human Settlements established in August 2010 as per the Social Housing Act, No 16 of 2008.
Acting chief executive Mpolai Nkopane said the purpose of the countrywide tour was to get a sense of what tenants were going through as beneficiaries, those being social housing institutions.
“We had Covid-19 from March last year and as such the SHRA received about R300 million to support the social housing institutions. We wanted to come and see what the impact of Covid was and for us to engage directly with the tenants. It’s an opportunity for us to get face-to-face engagements because usually, we use paper to interact with beneficiaries,” said Nkopane.
She said that, overall, tenants were happy to be living where they were.
“Some were living in overcrowded areas, others have said they no longer have to travel far to get to work, so we are getting people closer to places of work and to social amenities including schools.
“We are getting people in family environments, and the impact is amazing and giving people access to their own homes,” she said.
Nkopane made it clear that rent to buy was not part of the social housing project as it is not covered by the Social Housing Act.
She explained that rent to buy was a government scheme that the SHRA did not work with.
“Often the people who live in social housing units have homes elsewhere. “So in Durban, for example, they would have come here not necessarily looking for a place to buy in the city but looking for a place close to where they work.”
KZN social housing chief executive Muhammad Faryaz Mosam, who spoke at one of their projects Rydalvale in Phoenix, said they had two projects in the pipeline in Phoenix and Newlands.
The Phoenix Tenants and Ratepayers Association said it felt SHRA should have made a point to engage with it as well and or publicise that they would be in Phoenix as they had some issues with KZN social housing.
“They should have extended their stay in the province.
“They just came on a brief visit and go away with a picture that all is okay.
“They needed to meet us as the association as well,” said spokesperson Mervin Govender.
Daily News