Cape Town – In a bid to address Cape Town’s housing crisis, the Forest Village Housing Development in Eerste River saw more than 2 760 qualifying beneficiaries from across the metro move into their new homes with remarkably improved living conditions.
Human Settlements MEC Tertuis Simmers said the Forest Village Housing Development stood to welcome another 2 060 beneficiaries from the Housing Demand Database (HDD).
“Thus far, this project has assisted backyard dwellers and other vulnerable beneficiaries that are prioritised for a housing opportunity. This means it is especially the elderly and disabled residents registered on the HDD that are typically prioritised for housing opportunities as they become available,” said Simmers.
“This is particularly seen in this project, as the large majority of those that have benefited, and continue to benefit, are previous backyard dwellers from the local wards.”
The new residents included husband Angelo de Vos and his wife Diana, who moved into their new home on Saturday after living as backyard dwellers.
“After being on the HDD for 15 years, we are very happy to have received our new home. It was worth the wait. We moved in on Saturday and are very pleased with our neighbourhood and friendly neighbours,” said Diana.
Simmers said that with its available and limited resources, the department was committed to fast-tracking the delivery of housing opportunities to citizens of the Western Cape, especially with the increasingly harsh weather conditions affecting backyard dwellers and damaging informal settlements.
Of the 2 760 new residents, the Forest Village Housing Development has accommodated 579 residents from the N2 Gateway, 508 from the Southern Corridor, 155 from priority cases and 1518 from the local area of Eerste River, Electric City, Faure, Dreamworld, Blue Downs, Malibu Village, Kleinvlei, Rosedale, Mfuleni and Fairdale.