MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Existing and prospective residents are up in arms about the acute shortage of homes, especially rental properties, in Mossel Bay.

The problem is not limited to any specific area, nor income or population group.

Many residents are now saying that a lack of affordable housing is impeding the region's economic growth and prosperity.

Population growth
According to official statistics the town's population has virtually doubled over the past six or seven years.

According to StatsSA, the population figure was a mere 59 032 in 2011. The Western Cape provincial government's 2017 Socio-Economic Profile, published in January this year indicates a current population figure of 99 319, with an estimated growth to 105 556 by 2023. This represents a growth rate of 1.2 per cent. 

The estimated numbers for 2023 show growth in all age groups, with the highest growth in the working-age population group in Mossel Bay.

The report states that access to formal housing and services in Mossel Bay is measured against a total number of households of 28 025 in 2011 and 31 766 in 2016, an annual increase of 748 units. This excludes the informal housing sector.

Hardest hit seems to be the middle income group who battle to pay the average rentals and make a living while the cost of living soars. As a result, many end up becoming backyard dwellers as not everyone qualify for FLISP housing or other housing initiatives. Neither can they afford the average rentals charged for houses currently on the market especially as salaries seems to underperform the national trend.

On social media people are actively dissuaded from moving to Mossel Bay due to the lack of rental properties.

Holiday vs permanent
Taking into account the number of people house hunting on social media, it seems demand far outstrips supply. Several popular facebook pages assist both homeowners and potential tenants. One such a page, CBS Langtermyn Verblyf, has about 2 400 active users at any one time with loads of traffic, indicating an extremely active market.

Lack of accommodation is exacerbated by the many owners of holiday homes who rent out their properties during ten or 11 months of the year, only to expect their tenants to vacate the premises for the year-end holiday season when lucrative, if not excessive holiday rentals are charged.

Many of these owners do not use the services of rental property agents. According to a number of local property agents, the December holiday season may yield the owners an income of up to three months' normal rental in a period of a mere few weeks.

Conversely, tenants are left with the stress of having to move house at a time of the year when rental accommodation is virtually impossible to find, with the added burden of the cost of short-term relocation.

Many tenants believe it is unethical of owners to expect tenants, who are desperate for a home, to agree to a rental agreement that will force them to vacate a property over the summer holidays.

Unaffordable
With salaries in Mossel Bay hardly matching what city dwellers earn, very few residents can afford to own a home. Homes in the lower price ranges are more than R1 million, making loan repayments unaffordable.

The average demand for rental property is in the bracket of less than R12 000 per month, a figure that is not enough for a monthly home loan payment.

The average two-income family with the average 2.5 children is looking for rental accommodation in the less than R10 000 per month market. Over and above their rental, tenants have to contend with municipal service charges and other fees. Salaries in the Southern Cape have hardly kept pace with the increase in the cost of living. Then local homeowners are increasingly imposing impossible conditions, such as disallowing children - even in stand-alone homes.

No pets
"Furthermore, many landlords demand that tenants not keep pets, making it very difficult for the average person to find a family home. Mossel Bay is not a pet-friendly town," an agent who prefers to remain anonymous says. She admits to property owners having the right to protect their assets but says that every applicant should be assessed on his or her own merit.

"With crime increasing, having dogs has become a necessity, and no longer a luxury.

"Many security advisors will agree that a dog is worth much more than an alarm system that can be disabled. While conceding that property owners may want to safeguard their investment against the possible damage that dogs may cause, one has to venture that concern for the safety of one's tenants should far outweigh the damage of a hole dug in the front lawn."

She laments the added burden on animal rescue services that face having to put down much-loved and well-cared-for dogs merely because the owners may not keep them. "Can you stomach the pain of a child having to part with a much-loved pet merely for a couple of rands in rental income? Proper rental agreements can easily circumvent this."

Have you been affected by the lack of rental housing? Contact nickey@groupeditors.co.za

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