eThekwini Municipality extends emergency accommodation for flood victims

Durban — The eThekwini Municipality has extended contract periods for temporary emergency accommodation (TEA) for April 2022 flood victims.

This decision was made during the municipality’s special executive committee meeting on Friday.

In a statement, the municipality said the executive committee approved a report recommending the extension of the current lease agreement for five property owners providing temporary emergency accommodation for the April 2022 flood victims on a month-to-month basis for twelve months.

“The extension of the contract is crucial to maintaining the sustainability of the temporary emergency accommodation programme until houses are completed for relocation purposes,” the municipality explained.

“Currently, planning processes are under way for the identified land parcels for a permanent housing solution, however since houses have not yet been built, an amendment in terms of Section 116 (3) of the Municipal Finance Management Act, is required in order to allow the remaining milestones to be completed.

“Additional funding to the value of just over R63.3 million will be sourced from the Informal Settlement Upgrade Grant (ISUPG) by way of reprioritising as directed by the National Minister of Human Settlements in order to cover all the relevant cost implications for the additional twelve -month period allowed for the construction of permanent houses for flood victims.”

In a recent parliamentary written question, Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi revealed that before April 1, 2023, the National Department of Human Settlements had been disbursing emergency housing grants (on application) to provinces and municipalities affected by disasters.

• The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Human Settlements applied for emergency housing funding to assist 3 089 displaced families and was allocated an amount of R342 133 000 during the 2022/23 financial year.
• In October 2022, the provincial Department of Human Settlements appointed the Housing Development Agency (HDA) and Ithala Bank as programme managers for leasing various identified TEAs that will accommodate 1 200 families for a period not exceeding 2-years and acquire a Transnet-owned building called Montclair Lodge.
• The balance of the allocated grant was used to construct 1 074 Temporary Residential Units (TRUs) and ablution facilities thereof, whilst 815 opted to stay with their relatives and some restored their homes.
• After the provision of temporary relief, the KZN-DHS and eThekwini acquired land parcels that will be used to construct permanent houses for the 1 200 families that are still in TEAs.
• The latter process was delayed by the prolonged turnaround time of obtaining environmental authorisations and objections from communities that reside near the identified land parcels.

Kubayi explained that in the current 2024/25 financial year the National Department of Human Settlements requested concurrence from the National Treasury, to utilise the Emergency Housing Fund to extend the lease agreements that are expiring (at the) end of October 2024, but this request was rejected on the basis that the unforeseen and unavoidable expenditure process is only applicable to disaster backlogs that occurred within the 2024/25 financial year.

Kubayi further explained that it is estimated that construction of the permanent houses will commence during the 2025/26 financial year, subject to additional funding being approved by the National Treasury, considering that the grant dedicated to permanent housing namely the Human Settlements Development Grant has been reduced significantly in most provinces for the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework budget period.

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