MOSSEL BAY NEWS - The Mountain View housing project has come under the spotlight again recently for issues relating to sales of units, safety in the area, quality of houses and more.

In the most recent development, the Freedom Font Plus brought a motion of exigency before council in a special council meeting held on 30 January.

Aside from the motion, following issues pertaining to safety, price and investment value raised by community members over the project, the Mossel Bay Advertiser also sent questions to the office of minister for Infrastructure, Tertuis Simmers.

The FF Plus stated the purpose of the motion as one to "focus on the massive problems with the Mountain View Housing Project and a thorough investigation into the allocation of units to qualifying individuals".

It said the construction was not up to standard, that unallocated units had been vandalised and used for drugs and gangsterism, that the area was well known for being dangerous and the party questioned the allocation process.

The motion made various recommendations, ranging from an external investigation into the allocation, an investigation into health and safety of the units, an opinion on the build, an immediate security plan to be drafted to assist citizens as well as an immediate clean-up and repair operation of all vandalised units.

In a video on his Facebook page, Mossel Bay mayor Dirk Kotzé made mention of the motion and the ensuing conversation surrounding Mountain View.

"It is a flagship project sponsored by the province to the value of about R300 million and rolled out over the last two years, and some of the frustrations were uttered in the council meeting."

He said they had already requested Western Cape Minister of Infrastructure Tertuis Simmers, to visit Mountain View prior to the council meeting, because council, too, share these frustrations. 

"We invited him to Mossel Bay to bring these challenges under the attention of the relevant provincial department.

"At this stage, some of the things mentioned were the quality of construction, the safety in the area and the allocation of some units. Some of these units are Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP) houses, so in terms of your income you qualify for a subsidy from government, so only half of the houses were low income housing, where you receive the house for free."

He noted that in terms of safety, "all our stakeholders, especially our neighbourhood watches, local people from Mountain View who took it upon themselves and who work together - you know we have spent quite some money on our safety sector and structures in the municipality - thank you to each person who works with us to help establish a safer environment in Mountain View".

He stated: "This project we are busy with, we only started two years ago. It takes time to put these types of structures in place, but we are busy with it and we already have various successes in terms of safety." 

The questions sent to Simmers's office offers provincial feedback on some of the matters raised by some community members. Here are the responses to the Advertiser's questions:

What is the difference between the units being sold and those that are free?
• The Mountain View project was developed in terms of the Integrated Residential Development Programme (IRDP).
This programme creates the opportunity to plan and develop integrated settlements that include all the necessary land uses and housing types and price categories to become a truly integrated community.
It provides for both subsidised, as well as finance-linked housing, social and rental housing, commercial, institutional and other land uses to be developed.
• The project has created 725 so-called Breaking New Ground (BNG) units - subsidised units made available "for free" to qualifying beneficiaries.
These units comply with the standard specifications for BNG units.
• As part of the integrated development, a total of 278 units have been developed in terms of the First Home Finance Programme (FHFP), previously called the Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP).
These units will be sold to purchasers who qualify in terms of the FHFP. This programme makes provision for the First Home Finance subsidy that covers a portion of the purchase price of the unit, as determined based on the purchaser’s income. The balance of the purchaser price is then typically made up by a mortgage bond from a bank. Other alternatives such as a pension fund-backed loan, or cash contribution can also be used in terms of this new programme.
• The primary difference between the BNG units and the FHFP units is the standard of specifications. The specification differences are as follows:

How was the value of these units determined? Residents are concerned they are overpriced?
The value of the FHFP units is determined by the total development cost.
The development cost includes any land cost, the cost of the civil and electrical services, the costs of building the units and all other associated costs such as professional fees, NHBRC registration fees and conveyancing (transfer) fees. The department has endeavoured to keep the development costs as low as possible, to enable the units to be sold at the lowest possible price.
The IRDP policy requires that the development cost be recouped from the selling of the units. No profit or any mark-up has been added to the units, as would be the case with a private developer.
The units are being made available at the lowest possible price and are certainly not overpriced. There are no other newly-developed houses in Mossel Bay currently available at this price. Bank valuers have found sufficient value in the units to provide end-user finance packages for the project.

Are these houses aimed at families? One of the concerns raised is that they are not family oriented, but more suited for single people.
• The units are all two-bedroom duplex units, aimed to cater for families.
The units consist of a spacious living area, galley-style kitchen for space optimisation and a bathroom on the ground floor.
The unit has two upstairs bedrooms, both fitted with built-in cupboards.
Each unit overlooks a paved courtyard providing safe, visible areas for children to play.
The courtyard is also provided with a water storage tank to collect rainwater, for non-potable water activities, such as watering gardens or washing cars.
The units are also fitted with a solar water geyser which provides significant cost saving.
• As buyers will be able to use their FHF subsidies to reduce the purchase price, one of the requirements to qualify for the subsidy is that the buyer must have a financial dependent, such as a spouse or a child. As an example, a buyer who earns R13 000 (the minimum income to qualify for a home loan) can receive a FHF subsidy of R101 174, thus reducing the purchase price and home loan to apply from R429 000 to R327 826.

Crime has been another concern at Mountain View. Is anything being done to ensure safety in the area?
• Security services are currently being provided while the units are being sold.
The configuration of the units - small blocks of units and inner courtyard areas - allows for active surveillance of the neighbourhood.
Once the units have been occupied, owners will be able to provide active surveillance of their given block of units.
• The aim will be to create a voluntary Homeowners' Association (HOA) that will address the safety and crime in the area and for the owners and occupiers to work together to address the issues. The owners within other similar projects have actively, and successfully, organised themselves and formed a HOA.
There will also be close collaboration between the Neighbourhood Watches, the municipality, the broader Ratepayers' Association and other stakeholders.
• All new homeowners are invited to participate in a New Homeowner Programme to assist them with the responsibilities of a new homeowner, managing their new budget, caring for their new homes, preparing a last will and testament and growing wealth and value through home ownership. All the course material presented by the MDW INC Attorneys, Notaries & Conveyancers team, was developed for leading financial institutions in their “borrower’s education” programmes.

Mossel Bay Municipality explained its role in the process:
The role of the municipality is to avail land to the provincial government to roll out housing projects based on the housing need of the municipality.
The municipality provides the marketing agent with names of the potential FHF beneficiaries as per the database registration according to their income category.
FHF is not unique to the Mossel Bay Municipality. It is implemented all around South Africa, however Mountain View is the first FHF project in Mossel Bay.
Housing is not a municipal competency. Subsidy application forms are sent to the provincial department, which then decides, based on the housing code, who qualifies for a housing subsidy.