Rental plan on the cards for flood victims

AS THE KwaZulu-Natal Department of Human Settlements looks at different options to accommodate flood victims and move them out of mass care centres, a Rental Assistance Scheme (RAS) has been proposed.

The department said it was discussing a Rental Assistance Scheme as a form of Temporary Emergency Accommodation for April 2022 flood victims now living in shelters.

Department spokesperson Mbulelo Baloyi said in the pipeline was a Memorandum of Agreement to be entered into with Ithala Bank to manage the distribution of Rental Assistance to the approved beneficiaries.

“This will mean the Department of Human Settlements will pay the rental on behalf of the approved flood victims, so we are looking for home owners who are willing to rent out their residential units,” he said.

Baloyi said 1 166 Temporary Residential Units had been completed to date and 1 015 handed over to flood victims, with the remaining units in KwaDukuza and eThekwini North yet to be occupied.

“The pace is affected by land issues which relate to sites (not conducive for building) and other soil-related conditions. This requires alternate sites and further assessments.”

At the Human Settlement Indaba held in Durban for the past two days, eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said 43 mass centres had been cleared and people had been moved to decent shelters.

“As eThekwini Municipality, working with all spheres of government, we are working flat out to ensure that the process of relocating floods victims from community halls is fast tracked.

“We are pleased to report that through various government interventions, more than 360 families have been issued with material to rebuild their informal structures but not in areas that are prone to flooding.”

Kaunda added that before the city was hit by the April floods, it had acquired more than 13 500 hectares of land for housing developments and constructed 290 family units inside hostel precincts.

“We had also transferred ownership of flats to more than 8 000 occupants.”

The mayor said the city had learnt a lesson about building in areas that were not suitable for housing development.

“As a coastal city, we know that some of these structures were built on floodplains. Also, because of the topography of the city, during heavy rains, we will see more mudslides. So as the severe weather patterns and storms become more frequent, we must build better and smarter.”

Kaunda said the available parcels of land were handed over to the Department of Human Settlements as it was the responsible department for the building of houses, including temporary shelters.

“The municipality has handed over these land parcels to the department to immediately commence with the construction of temporary residential units.”

These land parcels are also suitable for conventional housing and will be converted into permanent housing once funding is approved, he said.

“Our officials are currently busy conducting assessments of another 23 land parcels before construction begins.”