Business Report - Housing minister commissions review of legislation: "Housing minister commissions review of legislation
March 14, 2006
By Roy Cokayne
Pretoria - Housing minister Lindiwe Sisulu has commissioned an urgent review of existing legislation that could negatively affect affordable housing delivery.
Ndivhuwo wa ha Mabaya, a spokesperson for the national housing department, said last week that the review was aimed at assessing all legislation in place and how it affected housing delivery.
Mabaya said the housing department would consult with other departments if the review concluded that certain legislation needed to be amended to ensure and enhance housing delivery.
'The review has started with an analysis of all national, provincial and municipal legislation. I'm not able to give a date when the review will be completed, but the minister has indicated it is an urgent matter and it would be given the urgency it deserved.
'But we also want to do a thorough job. It's very serious work we're talking about, especially as it covers all three levels of government,' he said.
There was insufficient affordable housing stock for more than 2 million people looking for this type of housing.
Mabaya's comments follow the Banking Association last week blaming local authorities for the slow pace of housing supply, particularly for lower-income groups.
Jopie van Honschooten, the co-ordinator of the lower-income housing unit of the financial sector for the Banking Association, said this slow pace of delivery had become a threat to the commitment by the banking sector in the financial services charter to provide R42 billion to finance low-cost housing by 2008.
Van Honschooten said the biggest constraint to housing supply was the poor pla"