26 June 2009

Prioritizing beneficiaries with special needs

By: Graca dos Santos

In a bid to promote housing sustainability, a decision was taken that the Housing Waiting List was to be re-engineered into the Housing Demand Database for Gauteng province. Housing Demand Database is a new system of managing and planning for the demand of housing in Gauteng province.

The Housing Demand Database refers to all housing needs in the province, whether area based, or project based or tenure options. Beneficiaries who have benefited from a housing subsidy will be flagged on the Demand Database as INACTIVE. This policy will be the only housing official database from which prospective beneficiaries will be selected for subsidy approval by the MEC. The policy will provide a regulatory framework that will ensure that the established Housing Demand Database is used as information, planning and a research tool, whereby it will be able to provide information on the housing needs for communities. Further, the Housing Demand Database will ensure that housing allocation process promotes sustainability, good governance within various communities in the province, and regularize the allocation process in a fair and equitable manner.

Objectives and Policy Performance

• To obtain relevant and accurate data for housing planning purposes through verification and updating of applicants information;

• To formulate a comprehensive housing allocation framework that accommodates previously disadvantaged groups and special needs categories;

• To help prioritize beneficiaries with special needs;

• To ensure that the Housing Allocation process is implemented across all the programs of the Department, in a fair, standardized, equitable and transparent manner.

The policy can be downloaded from the Website

MEC, HOD AND COMMUNICATION

2: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT WORK AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

3: POLICY

4, 5 and 6 LOCAL GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

7: DISASTER MANAGEMENT

8: SERVICE DELIVERY MONITORING AND EVALUATION