HOUSING POLICY PARTICIPATION

Rabie Ridge- Yesterday, the 2nd of October 2019 the City of Johannesburg Department of Housing held a policy public participation drive to obtain information from the public that will guide it on how to deal with and prioritize housing services and the use and planning of land.

The public participation was held at Rabie Ridge Community Hall for CoJ Region A. The venue for the public meeting was ironic in that earlier this year they were massive Land Grabs just next to Rabie Ridge and sections of Phomolong.

Squatters which had occupied the land, owned by the University of Witwatersrand, were eventually evicted by the Red Ants.

A strong view and suggestion by the community to the Department of Housing was that the government should provide land to those people who can build for themselves. This will reduce squatter camps.

In most instances the Housing crisis is caused by the ‘gap market ‘. People in the gap market are those that don’t earn enough to qualify for Mortgage Bond but also not poor enough to qualify for an RDP house.

Public Policy Particaptions like the one held yesterday will continue across Johannesburg and will conclude in Roodeport next week Tuesday.