By BAKANG MOKOTO
12 November 2024- The North West Department of Human Settlements said it has partnered with Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA) on a pursuit to address the housing challenges the province is faced with as an intervention strategy to speed up the development of rental accommodation in the province.
The Director for Research and Policy Development and also the acting Director for Rental Housing Tribunal, Hildegarde Du Plessis said, the department needs to ensure that the people of North West are provided with rental accommodation that is affordable and nearer to their workplace.
Du Plesis said the department needs to cater for the needs of communities as one of its priorities.
“There is an urgent need to address this matter, and this collaborative effort aims to accelerate progress towards achieving the priorities of the department which is provision of houses to beneficiaries.
“We urge officials to make use of the online training provided by SHRA on the following website address: http://www.shra.org.za. The fruitful and informative training teaches about property management and it is free of charge,” she said.
According to SHRA’s acting Compliance, Accreditation and Regulations (CAR) Executive, Biansha Van Staden, the initiative is essential in order to provide provinces with individual attention as their challenges are not the same. Van Staden said they will offer training to empower them and provide support.
“We are working together with Rental Housing and Community Scheme Ombud Services (CSOs), to ensure that the rental space is given a priority. Social housing is a state subsidised rental housing targeted at low to medium income groups who earn between R1500 and R15 000 and do not qualify for RDP houses or mortgage bond.
“The purpose of social housing is to contribute to restructuring provinces to address structural economic and spatial dysfunctionalities, Social housing contributes to widening the range of housing options to the poor,” she said.
The Guardian 