KNYSNA NEWS - After more than a decade since negotiations began, housing developments on six sites surrounding Hornlee will finally break ground this year.
This is according to Knysna Municipality, who stated this week that the provincial government has allocated more than R20-million for the construction of at least 155 RDP houses and, for the first time in Knysna, 157 Flisp (finance-linked individual subsidy plan) houses.
Flisp was developed by the government to enable first-time buyers who earn between R3 501 and R22 000 a month to afford a place of their own.
Individuals in these salary bands generally find it hard to qualify for housing finance because their income is regarded as too low for mortgage finance, but too high to qualify for the government "free house" subsidy scheme.
Hiccups along the way
During a media briefing this week, Human Settlements manager Mawethu Penxa supplied some background on the process thus far, stating that when it was initially introduced, Absa was named the successful bidder.
But the planning process took long and in the years that followed, community members were unhappy with the original plan. Absa subsequently declared the project not financially viable to them and pulled out.
"That cancellation came as a blessing," said Penxa, adding that this allowed the municipality to tackle the project anew and propose a redevelopment in 2016. This application was submitted to province for funding.
'Top structures up next'
"All sites were serviced by the end of August last year and in October the municipality was granted an amount of more than R20-million to construct the top structures.
The municipality approved the next step at a council meeting during December 2018, which is to package tenders for materials, concrete slabs and small contractors for the construction of top structures," said Penxa. He added that the public participation process was adhered to during this time and is still ongoing, and that beneficiaries of the homes will be selected by province following a stringent verification process.
"As the municipality, we do not decide who the beneficiaries are. We collect the applications and submit this to province to verify and allocate, based on provincial and national guidelines."
He stressed that housing officials at the municipality are not directly responsible for any applications that are incomplete, but rather only serve as the medium between the applicant and the province.
R300 000 limit per house 'a challenge'
Mayor Mark Willemse stated that this will be the first time that the municipality will introduce the concept of Flisp housing.
"We are only allowed to build Flisp homes up to the amount of R300 000. This poses a challenge as the longer we take to build the more expensive materials get and as a result the house becomes smaller.
But we are in constant discussions with province as to how to go about his the correct way – there might be hiccups but we envisage a complete project within a year. We expect construction to start by July this year."
Deputy mayor Ricky van Aswegen said housing is an emotional issue for thousands of people, and that the municipality will continue to engage the community of Hornlee with regard to these and future developments.
"In some areas the housing developments could affect property values and there is also no current plan for the income group earning above R22 000 who want to purchase property and build. This still needs to be addressed," he said.
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