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By Yolande Stander
Knysna's township residents waiting for government houses was given a glimmer of hope yesterday as the keys of the first of more than a hundred homes were handed over to their owners.
Knysna mayor Georlene Wolmarans said the town had a massive housing backlog and that about 11 000 residents were currently on a waiting list.
"So despite the 134 people receiving homes during the current development, there are still thousands who need housing and our population is growing by the day," Wolmarans said at the official handover in Oupad on Tuesday.
Resident Mary Lindi (70) was the first to receive the keys to her new home which is one of 14 recently completed as part of the first phase of the Oupad housing development project. By the end of the current financial year 134 houses will have been built.
"I didn't know that in my lifetime I would be able to live in a cement house, but I thank the Lord that he spared me this long so that I can move into my own house. It is my house," an overwhelmed Lindi said.
"That sense of ownership motivates people not only with a new sense of personal place in the world, but also with some basis to begin taking ownership of a better place in their community," Wolmarans added.
Wolmarans said the Knysna Municipality was dependent on provincial government for funding and even with the additional contribution made by the Knysna Municipality, it remained a slow process. "In this community some families have been waiting since 1961."
She said the municipality was constantly on the lookout for alternatives to accelerate this process.
The Department of Human Settlements aims to accelerate and intensify their programmes to ensure that transfers of the outstanding title deeds to recipients of subsidy housing as quickly as possible. We are also constantly looking at more innovative housing options that will be more cost-effective and quicker to build.
