Sky City Housing Development caters for middle-income earners

Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has reiterated the government’s commitment to ensuring that all people have decent shelter over their heads.

The Sky City Housing Development is one of the projects around the country which also caters for middle-income earners.

Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has reiterated the government’s commitment to ensuring that all people have decent shelter over their heads.

“Together with the private sector and our strategic partners we will work hard to restore the dignity of our people through human settlements,” Sisulu said.

Sisulu was speaking during her visit to the Sky City Housing Development in Alberton, Johannesburg, on Thursday, to check on houses offered to middle-income earners.

The project has currently delivered over 4 000 housing units with close to 500 partly funded by the government.

Sisulu said that the department came up with Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP) because of the realisation that too many people are falling through the cracks when it comes to access to housing and owning their own houses.

“They neither qualify for government subsidised RDP house, nor a bond through private banking institutions. It is our belief that none of our citizens should find themselves left behind. The project we visited today is proof of the success of our initiative,” Sisulu said.

Since September 2017, the Minister said, Cosmopolitan Projects has already delivered 3 750 houses and 480 rental apartments at Sky City at a rate of about 1 500 houses per year.

“The total residential project will be completed in phases over the next 8 to 10 years,” she said.

The Minister also urged the contractors to advise people who buy the houses not to sell them, noting that the value in them is not only the money but the “value of the love you have shown in building these houses”.

“We in South Africa, especially South African Blacks, have not had these opportunities of investing in properties, but here we are now through you, allowing our young generation to invest in property and build a future for their children. Please advise them not to sell the property, until such time they have better means, but I would prefer that they hand them over to their siblings and keep them for themselves,” Sisulu said.

She further expressed her appreciation to Ekurhuleni Mayor Mzwandile Masina, saying what she saw in Sky City, was amazing.

“I have seen today, in Sky City, the fruit of what is possible when we work together.”

Explaining FLISP, National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC) Acting CEO, Sizwe Tati, said the programme is a facility that is aimed at assisting people who borrow, either from a bank or any finance lender, for purposes of putting up a house so that they have the ability to repay.

“Example, where you have to borrow R100 000, instead of paying a loan of R100 000, FLISP comes in to reduce that amount, so your loan is based on R80 000, depending on the income you are earning.

“FLISP aims to help people who are earning between R3 500 to a maximum of R22 000 per month, and those are individuals who historically, we all know sometimes battle to raise money from financial institutions because of their earning ability, and therefore it’s difficult to pay back the amount,” Tati explained.

Who qualifies for FLISP

Must be a South African citizen with a valid bar-coded identity document (ID), or if a Permanent Resident, must have a valid bar-coded permit;

Must be first time home buyer;

Must be over 18 years old and competent to legally contract; and

Must never have benefitted from any Government Housing Subsidy Scheme before. 

(With Inputs from South African Government Press Release)