Hundreds of Home-Owners to Benefit from City's Partnership with Banks

On Tuesday, 16 May 2006, ABSA, Nedbank and Standard Bank signed a Co-operation Agreement with the City of Cape Town whereby housing subsidy beneficiaries will be able to obtain small loans for home improvements.

The agreement provides for the three banks to be present at all appropriate housing subsidy developments across the City of Cape Town. The agreement further synergises the City of Cape Town's housing education programme with the banks housing education programmes.

Executive Mayor Helen Zille was present at the signing ceremony and said: "It is this kind of initiative which will provide the starting point for solving the housing crisis that our Province currently finds itself in. I am very excited to be involved in a ground-breaking South African first and I congratulate ABSA, Nedbank and Standard Bank for their vision in participating in this partnership".

"The main reason is to make banks more accessible to housing subsidy beneficiaries who may want to add a room or garage to their new houses while the project is under construction," says Councillor Dan Plato, Mayoral Committee Member for Housing.

Potentially thousands of subsidy home owners stand to benefit from this initiative.

"This is the first partnership of its kind in the country. Apart from access to additional finance, it also includes an educational programme aligned to the City's existing education programme for housing subsidy beneficiaries," he says.

In addition, the agreement promotes closer co-operation between the City and the banks for the development of affordable housing, also known as GAP houses which are aimed at consumers in the R3 500-00 to R7 000 per month income bracket.

The banks will further facilitate access to funds for land restitution and social housing projects.

"We are happy that the City will share its strategic housing plan and forthcoming projects with banks, as this spirit of pro-active co-operation should lead to greater involvement and competition levels within the banking industry," says Suzanne Codd, General Manager, ABSA Home Loans - Cape.

"The challenge of economic transformation must be jointly addressed by the public and private sectors and this agreement provides a platform for such interventions," says Nedbank Retail Regional Director, Anthony Costa.

"It is only through partnerships between all role-players in the housing value chain that we can hope to successfully find a comprehensive solution to our housing challenges. The envisaged sharing of information between the City and the banks, the facilitation of processes to unlock impediments to delivery and joint home-ownership education programmes, will encourage the provision of infrastructure and development funding to accelerate housing delivery and will improve access to housing finance for the consumer," says, Standard Bank Director: Affordable Housing, Linda Sing.

Issued by:
Lisle Brown
Media Liaison Officer
Tel: 021 400 3065
Directorate: Communication and Marketing
City of Cape Town
Email: media@capetown.gov.za
Tel: 021 400 2201
Fax: 021 957 0023

Media queries:
Wayne Muller
Manager: Housing Finance
Tel: 021 400 5122