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The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements, Mr Nocks Seabi, welcomes plans from the Minister of Human Settlements and partners to put in place measures to resolve access to housing for the gap market or missing middle.

The Portfolio Committee of Human Settlements of the 6th Parliament highlighted the continued concern about access to adequate housing for the missing middle and the continued challenge of qualifying for neither mortgage finance nor fully subsidised housing. “The gap market has been adversely affected by inadequate implementation of policy directives and the skewed economic environment in the country. Effective implementation of the plans by the department should alleviate the challenges of access to the missing middle,” Mr Seabi said.

The Chairperson agrees with the Minister that there is an urgent need to consider and finalise the Home Loan and Mortgage Disclosure Amendment Bill, which will help to address discriminatory lending practices and promote fair access to housing finance. In line with this, the Chairperson raised concerns that the approval rate for previously advantaged applicants stands at 53% compared to 49% approvals for historically disadvantaged applicants. These skewed lending practices do not aid efforts to achieve spatial transformation and perpetuate historical challenges with access for the majority of South Africans.

The Chairperson therefore welcomes efforts to strengthen the Office of Disclosure’s mandate within the Department of Human Settlements with legislative and other interventions to enable better delivery of its mandate.

The Chairperson also called for effective communication to popularise interventions such as the First Home Finance, Rapid Land Release programme to encourage a higher take up of those programmes. The department must also move with speed to heighten communication around the implementation, requirements and availability of the rural First Home Finance housing initiatives.

Mr Seabi also encourages greater collaboration with employers to take advantage of the department’s initiatives to make housing opportunities available for employees. “The interventions such as a strategic partnership between the National Housing Finance Corporation with Cashbuild and Capitec for the Zakhelikhaya initiative must be strengthened to ensure access for the gap market,” Mr Seabi suggested.

Meanwhile, the Chairperson welcomed the report that 1.3 million applications were received from women, while 1.1 million were received from men. This transformation will empower more women to own property and the Chairperson is hopeful that through the implementation of departmental interventions, this number will increase.

The committee will schedule regular briefings between the committee and the department for updates on the implementation of the identified plans.

Issued by the Parliamentary communication Services on behalf of the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements, Nocks Seabi