Simelane says housing demand continues to outstrip supply

By Lebone Rodah Mosima

Human Settlements Minister Thembi Simelane says South Africa’s housing challenge remains significant, with demand for affordable housing continuing to outstrip supply.

The country’s housing backlog is estimated at about 2.6 million people in need of housing.

Simelane was speaking at the National Housing Finance Corporation’s (NHFC) 30th Anniversary Summit at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg on Friday.

She said decades of apartheid spatial planning had deliberately excluded millions of South Africans from property ownership, credit and the basic dignity of a secure home.

“The government of the day recognised a hard truth that the housing crisis could not be solved through public funding alone,” Simelane said.

“We needed an institution capable of mobilising private capital, bridging the gap between what South Africans could afford and what traditional lenders would finance.”

She said the NHFC was established to provide access to housing finance.

Simelane noted that the NHFC’s 30th anniversary coincides with the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution.

She said Section 26 of the Constitution enshrines the right to adequate housing and requires the state to take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of the right.

Reflecting on the NHFC’s achievements over the past three decades, Simelane said the figures were impressive but stressed that behind every statistic was a human story.

She said more than R13 billion in housing finance had been facilitated, while more than 800,000 households had been helped to access housing opportunities.

More than 32,000 subsidy approvals have been made through the First Home Finance programme since 2019, with close to R2 billion disbursed and R10.9 billion in private-sector investment leveraged through the programme.

“These are not just figures. They represent families who have a place to call home. They represent children