28 residents on 17th August 2021 moved into their brand-new homes located in the Forest Village Housing Development. This means that a total of 2 849 deserving and qualifying residents have thus far benefitted from this catalytic project which is situated in the Eersteriver area.
Those who moved in are from the local areas, which consist of Wards 16, 17, 108 and 114. It also included the last 4 beneficiaries from Vygieskraal, Athlone.
The Forest Village Housing Development has benefited residents from across the Cape Metropole. 579 of these residents are N2 Gateway beneficiaries, 508 are from the Southern Corridor, 156 are Priority Cases and 1 602 are from the local area, which includes Eersteriver, Eersteriver South, Electric City, Faure, Dreamworld, Blue Downs, Malibu Village, Kleinvlei, Rosedale, Mfuleni and Fairdale.
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Through this development the Western Cape Government continues to demonstrate its commitment to ensuring that more residents, especially the most vulnerable, live in improved and safer conditions.
The government is committed to making a tangible difference in people’s lives. It is for this reason that they prioritise the elderly, persons living with medically certified disabilities, those that have been on the Housing Demand Database (HDD) for 15 years and longer as well as our backyard dwellers.
The Mango couple, Mr Peter and Mrs Filda Mango (52) who is from Ward 17, Blue Downs said: “This is a miracle to us. Not having your own home and living in unpleasant conditions was not nice at all. We’re truly grateful that the suffering is now over, and we no longer have to be squatters. Thank you to all who made it possible.”
Former Vygieskraal resident Mrs Nokwanda Msutwana (62) said: “Living in Vygieskraal for the past 20 years was not the happiest time of my life. The living conditions were not good at all. Today, I am grateful and over the moon. My heart is filled with joy, as my life has already changed for the better.”
All the beneficiaries have been encouraged to value their new asset and take care of it. They should also draft a will, so that a legacy is left behind for their children.
Forest Village is one of the Department’s Catalytic Projects, which commenced in January 2016 and has a budget allocation of R1.1billion. This mixed-use development consists of various types of units to cater for beneficiaries of different income levels and specific needs such as Military Veterans, Breaking New Ground (BNG) and Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP) units.
The Western Cape Government remains committed to accelerating human settlement delivery, while promoting social inclusion through the development of integrated, resilient, safe and sustainable human settlements in an open opportunity society.
