Housing finance bank to launch, says minister

THE new Human Settlements Development Bank will be launched today, creating a single government home finance entity, Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said.

The human settlements minister told a media briefing in Cape Town the new bank should facilitate faster access to home financing for the poor, and give a boost to plans for mega government-led integrated housing projects in metropolitan areas.

There are 46 of these so-called catalytic projects in the pipeline, with 14 in Gauteng.

Sisulu said she hoped the private sector would eventually invest R150 billion in projects of this kind, which are underpinned by a policy of undoing apartheid-era spatial divides and bringing the poor closer to economic centres.

The projects will see the allocation of about 10 000 stands, where beneficiaries will build their houses.

Sisulu said National Treasury had for years actively encouraged the establishment of the new bank.

“Treasury has been at pains to push us to get to this point, over the past six years, because it did not make sense that we should have three different development finance institutions.

Human Settlements director-general Thabane Zulu said the formal launch of the bank will mean the start of operational integration between the three institutions – and a law establishing the entity should be introduced to Parliament by the end of September.

The National Housing Finance Corporation, the Housing Loan Fund and the National Urban Reconstruction and Housing Agency will be integrated to form the new bank.

The chief of the housing finance corporation will act as chief executive of the bank, Zulu said.

Sisulu also confirmed the appointment of Themba Mthethwa as the Human Settlements Ombudsman. – ANA