South Africa: Human Settlements to Give 'Missing Middle' a Helping Hand for Access to Housing

26 August 2024
Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)
By Lerato Mutsila

Many South Africans don't earn enough to qualify for a home loan, but earn too much to obtain government housing. Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said plans were under way to help the 'missing middle' access affordable housing. This article is free to read.

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Listen to this article 7 min Listen to this article 7 min Rising interest rates, hurdles to accessing finance, and a limited supply of cheap housing options have created an environment where many more South Africans struggle to afford adequate, low-cost housing. In addition to those who earn too little to buy a house, SA's "missing middle" are continually excluded from entering the housing market.

To address this, the Department of Human Settlements has devised interventions to help people in the gap market access affordable housing, announced at a media briefing on Monday, 26 August 2024.

The gap market refers to people who earn between R3,5oo and R22,000 a month, which is too much to qualify for government housing, but often too little to buy a house on the open market.

To address challenges in accessing affordable housing, the government is moving forward with the First Home Finance (FHF) initiative, social housing, and the Rapid Land Release Programme to encourage people to build for themselves.

"The Constitution makes it mandatory for us to ensure that all the work that we do creates a conducive environment for every South African to have access to adequate housing," said Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko...

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