Government's new housing approach will go a long way in reversing the apartheid legacy in housing and social planning in South Africa, President Jacob Zuma said at the weekend.

"All human beings strive to obtain decent shelter in a decent community. That is why as government we are doing all we can to assist our people to obtain affordable and habitable shelter," Zuma said during the launch of a social housing programme in East London on Saturday.

The Emerald Sky project is an innovative initiative aimed at providing affordable housing to people in need. Through it, government provides grant funding to private developers to build rental homes for low- and middle-income workers in an effort to prevent the spiraling of slum houses in the cities.

Zuma described the project, consisting of 656 units, of which 350 are already occupied, as an important addition to the government's response to the need for accommodation.

"You will notice that the new-style social housing projects that we are building are on well-located and landscaped land, with access to social amenities such as education, transport, recreational facilities and others," Zuma said during the event also attended by Human Settlements Minister, Tokyo Sexwale.

Government has built over 2,7m homes for South Africans since 1994, giving shelter to more than 13m people. Zuma further said government plans to spend close to R15bn this year on housing. This is being done in part through the provision of housing grants, with homes being built in more than 8,000 human settlements projects across the country.

"We are also upgrading many of the 2,700 informal settlements which exist alongside almost every urban and peri-urban town, to address the squalid conditions of those living there."

In addition, government is making available a Guarantee Fund that will make it easier for working people to access a mortgage bond to build their own homes. It is hoped that the initiative could eliminate many of the reasons given by financial institutions for not financing the development of affordable housing. – BuaNews

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It is amazing, to that the government keep on building rental housings, yet people do not have their own houses. Should something happen to you, your children cannot continue leaving in the rented house.

The only thing they want is to make money out of poor citizens. – Anonymous