More than 2800 residents have already benefitted from the Forest Village Housing Development
Yesterday, 28 residents moved into their brand-new homes in the Forest Village Housing Development. This means that 2 849 deserving and qualifying residents have thus far benefitted from this catalytic project which is situated in the Eersteriver area.
Those who moved in are from the local areas, which consist of Wards 16, 17, 108 and 114. It also included the last 4 beneficiaries from Vygieskraal, Athlone.
The Forest Village Housing Development has benefited residents from across the Cape Metropole. 579 of these residents are N2 Gateway beneficiaries, 508 are from the Southern Corridor, 156 are Priority Cases and 1 602 are from the local area, which includes Eersteriver, Eersteriver South, Electric City, Faure, Dreamworld, Blue Downs, Malibu Village, Kleinvlei, Rosedale, Mfuleni and Fairdale.
Through this development the Western Cape Government continues to demonstrate its commitment to ensuring that more of our residents, especially those most vulnerable, live in improved and safer conditions. Our primary focus is to restore our people’s dignity.
We’re committed to making a tangible difference in people’s lives. It is for this reason that we prioritise the elderly, persons living with medically certified disabilities, those that have been on the Housing Demand Database (HDD) for 15 years and longer as well as our backyard dwellers.
The Mango couple, Mr Peter and Mrs Filda Mango (52) who is from Ward 17, Blue Downs said: “This is a miracle to us. Not having your own home and living in unpleasant conditions was not nice at all. We’re truly grateful that the suffering is now over, and we no longer have to be squatters. Thank you to all who made it possible.”
Former Vygieskraal resident Mrs Nokwanda Msutwana (62 said: “Living in Vygieskraal for the past 20 years was not the happiest time of my life. The living conditions were not good at all. Today, I am grateful and over the moon. My heart is filled with joy, as my life has already changed for the better.”
I’d like to implore all the beneficiaries to value their new asset and take care of it. They should also draft a will, so that a legacy is left behind for their children.
Beneficiaries must not consider renting or selling the property, as doing so would suggest that they never had a housing need to start with. It is important to note that should a beneficiary wish to sell the property within the first 8 years after receiving the property, compelling reasons for the sale would be required, permission from the State is needed, while Government should be given the first opportunity to acquire it.
Forest Village is one of the Department’s Catalytic Projects, which commenced in January 2016 and has a budget allocation of R1.1billion. This mixed-use development consists of various types of units to cater for beneficiaries of different income levels and specific needs such as Military Veterans, Breaking New Ground (BNG) and Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP) units.
As the Western Cape Government, we remain committed to accelerating human settlement delivery, while promoting social inclusion through the development of integrated, resilient, safe and sustainable human settlements in an open opportunity society.
Source: Government of South Africa