The country's housing backlog is more than 2.3 million families

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

Human Settlements Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, says that the country's housing backlongs currently stand at 2.3 million families and growing.

Tabling her Department's budget policy statement in Parliament on Tuesday, she said that government has come to understand that urbanisation is upon us and that we have to accept and prepare for it.

She said President Zuma confirmed in his State of the Nation address that South Africa is urbanising at an alarming rate and that almost 63% of the country's population residents in towns and cities.

Minister Sisulu said this trend is expected to continue, adding that South Africa is ill-equipped to deal with this rate of urbanisation.

"We have huge shortages of land for housing, which is a primary need for our purpose. We particularly require well-located land close to work opportunities."

Meanwhile Sisulu added that she was alarmed to see how many 18-year-old's have registered for housing, assuming that government owes them a house.

She said the housing backlogs have been put at 2.3 families and growing.

Sisulu said that these statistics are very worrying, particularly against the backdrop that some of the beneficiaries of the system have sold their houses and then rejoined the waiting line.

The Minister said that it has become clear that some of the protests over the past years have been created by the fact that government's made promises and created an expectation that it is not able to meet fast enough.

"We have investigated this matter of the waiting list and have found that there is no credible data base against municipalities can verify the waiting list to the extent that we are certain is a credible process and make the appropriate allocations. What this means is that the creation of a credible data base of those waiting for a house is of vital importance to us." says Sisulu