When Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela cut the blue ribbon, Johnny Williams’s dream of becoming a home owner came true.
|||Cape Town - When Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela cut the blue ribbon on Thursday, Johnny Williams’s dream of becoming a homeowner came true.
Williams, his wife, Eunice, and their son, Joshua, were one of nine families who moved into their housing unit in the Fountain Head complex in what the province boasts is one of Cape Town’s most affordable housing projects.
The project is part of the appropriately named Nuwe Begin housing development in Eersterivier - a three-way partnership between the government, financial institutions and new homeowners.
The MEC said this model was the future for housing in South Africa. “We need everyone playing a part.”
He criticised the “politically correct model of the state acting as Father Christmas and handing out houses”, saying this was not sustainable.
The Williams couple, from Beaufort West, moved to Cape Town four years ago and rented a flat in Brackenfell.
“I didn’t think it was possible to own a house in Cape Town on my salary,” said Williams, who works as a police official at the Cape Town harbour.
It was his dream to be a homeowner. “This is fitting our budget. We can pay for this house,” said Williams.
The government subsidises the home, making it possible for low-income families to access bonds so they can own their own homes.
Eunice, who is unemployed, said their one-year-old son, Joshua, now has his own bedroom. The house has two bedrooms, a bathroom and an open-plan kitchen and living-room area.
Joy Joel, the Williams’s new neighbour, received her keys on August 1 and moved into her first home on Women’s Day. “I am very excited. It’s the first house I have ever owned. It’s quite a milestone,” said Joel, a 34-year-old single mother.
Madikizela said the delivery of the first units of the Nuwe Begin housing development was important because it was an example of the integration of people from different socio-economic classes.
“The people here are the heartbeat of the economy. They are getting houses through partnerships between the department, financial institutions and themselves.” Madikizela said the Nuwe Begin housing project would see 591 homes built in the next year.
Forty-four units have been completed so far.
shireen.mukadam@inl.co.za
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