The City of Cape Town has launched its link to the Housing Subsidy System, which allows it access to the National Housing Database and enables it to administer and approve subsidy applications, thereby streamlining housing delivery.
This comes after the City was granted Level 1 and 2 Human Settlement Accreditation by the National Department of Housing and the Provincial Government of the Western Cape.
In terms of this accreditation, the City is required to have access to the Housing Subsidy System (HSS) – a database and information system which links to the National Housing Database and other databases and provides information on individual beneficiaries. This forms the basis of assessing whether an applicant qualifies for a housing subsidy or not.
The National Department of Housing remains the custodian of the HSS and the Provincial Department of Housing is in charge of managing it, but the City will now be responsible for the administration and management of beneficiary applications for projects within the City’s boundaries.
City housing officials can now log onto the system and check the names of applicants on its database with those on the national database, to see whether these applicants qualify for homes based on the qualification criteria of thehousing programmes.
“This is a significant step towards the City of Cape Town becoming an Assigned Metro, which will enable the City, amongst other things, to administer, plan, account and verify all housing subsidy applications,” says Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements Councillor Tandeka Gqada.
“Any initiative that will streamline and maximise housing delivery in the city, and that saves the City time and money, is to be welcomed,” says Cllr. Gqada.
For more information on applying for housing, visit the City’s housing website.
Access the City’s current housing database.
