Slashed grant will hurt housing delivery in Joburg, says mayor Mashaba
The Gauteng government has 'without warning or reason' reduced Johannesburg's human settlements development grant funding by R180m
A R180m budget cut could result in Africa’s wealthiest city Johannesburg being unable to proceed with its planned housing projects and could see an increased backlog. Johannesburg, home to millions of migrants seeking work and better services, estimates its housing backlog at about 300,000 housing units. It gets a grant from the Gauteng provincial government's department of human settlements for some of its housing projects. Mayor Herman Mashaba said last week that the provincial government had “without warning or reason” reduced the city’s human settlements development grant (HSDG) funding by R180m for the current financial year. He said the city was informed at the beginning of the 2018-2019 financial year that the grant would be in the region of R248m, a figure the metro’s housing department used as basis for its business plans. “To our shock, a recently published gazette indicated that the City’s HSDG funding from the provincial government would only amount to R68m — wholly insu...
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