Minister Madikizela said, “I am happy that we are here to do the sod turning of this affordable housing project. We will soon come here to hand over these houses. We have seen that there is an interest in the market for affordable housing.”

Minister added, “We are also making sure that Municipalities expand their revenue base because it is not sustainable to keep building free houses for indigent people who cannot afford to pay rates.  This initiative it important to me, I want to make sure that it succeeds and we have seen that it can work. As the department we want to roll it out across the province. We try to accommodate people who are earning too much to qualify for a free house but also struggle to get a bond from the banks. We are now looking at increasing the threshold of the income scale from R15 000 to R20 000. There are many people that earn up to R20 000 but struggle to get a bond from the banks. They also need out assistance.

Costs of the Belle Vue affordable housing project will be in the region of R100 million and will yield approximately 200 units aimed at the affordable housing market. The affordable housing market caters for people that earn between R3500 – R15 000 per month. The civil works has been completed as phase 1 and construction of the top structures is expected to commence in October 2017.

The first batch of completed units is scheduled for handover in March 2018. The entire project is expected to be completed in 2019.