ANC Study Group on Human Settlements, 7 May 2015 Policy to Abolish Hostel Dwellings Welcomed The ANC in Parliament is pleased by the announcement made by the minister of human settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu, that the department of human settlements is reviewing its policy on hostel dwelling. The minister told the National Assembly, during a debate on the human settlement budget vote, that the review of the policy on hostels will culminate in the gradual abolishment of hostel dwellings which will be transformed into family housing units in line with the government's policy on social housing. The ANC welcomes this programme, which will greatly benefit particularly people under the age of 40 who reside and work in urban centres but are unable to procure residential properties in those areas because of their low affordability levels. In abolishing hostel dwellings and the new social housing policy, preference will be given to people under the age of 40 with low affordability levels for them to rent the social housing units in the soon to be former-hostels. This is to be welcomed because, in this new democratic dispensation South Africa belongs to all who live in it and it is no longer necessary to regard those who flock from largely rural provinces to urban centres in search of greener pastures as mere migrant labourers. As the ANC in parliament, we are encouraged that government is taking steps towards assisting this group of South Africans to live in better surroundings as compared to the male-oriented hostel dwelling system from the apartheid era that was never intended to welcome our people into this country's urban centres. We are also welcome that the fact that the department of human settlement has set aside a total of R2.1 billion to improve houses in the mining towns. This will see 22 mining towns in six provinces benefiting from improved housing programmes, including in the Marikana area where 500 housing units are nearing completion. The department has also ring-fenced an amount R159 million for the Youth Brigade Programme, which is intended for the creation of jobs for young people through the department's mega housing projects. We are pleased that government departments are prioritising implementation of practical programmes aimed at tackling the scourge of youth unemployment in line with the National Development Plan. Issued by the Chairperson of the ANC Study Group on Human Settlements, Nocawe Mafu To arrange interviews with ANC Committee Chairpersons contact: Thabo Mokone, ANC Media Coordinator for Committees, 082 490 9284 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
