Update
MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Following criticism surrounding 242 unoccupied housing units in Mountain View, Mossel Bay, the Western Cape Minister of Infrastructure, Tertuis Simmers, said a plan had been put in place to address the issue.
Simmers said the Western Cape Government (WCG) has approved a new sales model for the remaining Mountain View First Home Finance (FHF) units, which had been completed in October 2022.
The Department of Infrastructure (DoI) had confirmed last week that potential buyers of these R429 000 homes are battling to get loans to finance them. It said this was driven by systemic issues of poor credit profiles, high indebtedness, insufficient disposable income, limited credit history, and an affordability gap that persists even with the FHF government subsidy made available to assist with payment.
“To provide these families with a housing opportunity, and ensure completed homes do not stand vacant, the new Instalment Sale Agreement (ISA) model will enable qualifying beneficiaries to move into their homes while building towards full ownership through a structured, legally protected process, supported by financial readiness programmes,” said Simmers.
Asked when the WCG had realised this affordability challenge existed, Simmers said the project has been “significantly affected by various interest rate hikes since the completion […] which has recently led to increasing challenges”. He said challenges have intensified significantly over the past 12 months as unit sales have slowed.
As to the timeline of this new ISA model, Simmers said the implementing agent for the FHF programme in other provinces - the National Housing Finance Corporation - “approved an ISA structure in October 2025 but did not roll out the model on a large scale”.
“Building on lessons learned from the Mill Park [Bredasdorp] pilot project - where the ‘Rent-to-Own’ model (deferred ownership) was implemented - the department started with the developing and detailed planning of the ISA model to address the current challenges at the Mountain View project.”
Simmers said he approved the ISA model for implementation at Mountain View in June this year. The first agreement for a buyer on an instalment sale basis has been signed, and the application for the FHF subsidy is being prepared for submission to the department.
According to Simmers, it is estimated that many units will be occupied by the end of the year, with the remainder occupied early in the new year.
Previous article:
‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’
