Eastern Cape -
Eastern Cape human settlements MEC Helen Sauls-August has approved new guidelines on the quality of houses built for destitute people in the province.
A total of 1000 destitute families would benefit from the current financial year, Sauls-August said in a statement this week.
“In most cases the beneficiaries are pensioners, unemployed, child headed and homeless which then make it impossible for them to build their own homes,” she said.
“These beneficiaries are dominantly elderly rural women.”
There were already houses which had been built and handed over using the new guidelines.
Houses built through the new guidelines made provision for the internal and external walls plastered, waterborne sewerage, bathroom internal, sanitation or alternative sanitation.
They would include a rain water tank, apron, solar geyser, floor tiling, PVC, fencing of the entire yard, ceiling and specified roof covering.
These houses would be designed to be user-friendly to disabled people.
Greening would also be done on the houses.
These guidelines did not apply to general RDP houses and were only for destitute people.
Sauls-August said the backlog of destitute people on housing stood at 4000.
She said destitute people did not have livestock, depended on other people and were vulnerable to erratic weather and other shocks. - Sapa