No rent for life, demand Howell Road residents

ANGRY Howell Estate residents barricaded the road leading to the Sydenham housing estate on Monday morning, and set tyres alight in a bid to draw the attention of relevant officials to their list of housing grievances despite numerous attempt by disgruntled residents to contact and meet with them.

According to protesters, they have rented their homes for 13 years from First Metro, a Section 21 social housing company which was established in 1998 as a a result of the twinning relationship between eThekwini and Rotterdam. The initiative was among the first social housing enterprises in the country and signalled Durban’s intent on tackling the city’s housing challenges in a multi-pronged approach, by providing rental housing to low and moderate income households.

Judell Agustus, a member of the Howell Road committee, said: “It had to take us bringing fire to get any attention from First Metro. We sent letters, made appointments for meetings over the years but now burning tyres have got them down here. Why couldn’t they acknowledge our grievances and assist us?”

Members from the EFF, Herbert Mdletshe and Tholithemba Mthiyane, and DA councillor, Jethro Lefevre, were also called out to assist residents.

Jethro Lefevre said although Howell Road fell outside his ward, he had been approached by the community because they had received no joy from their ward councillor. “I came down to speak to the people and did not realise they had mobilised a protest. It is sad that they have to go through this 20 years down the road of democracy. There seems to be huge issues around the deeds and the registration of the properties and ownership of the land. I will be meeting with First Metro this week as well as community leaders to try to find a way forward.”

EFF’s Tholithemba Mthiyane also spoke to the community: “We are giving them the assurance that we understand their plight, situation and living conditions,” he said.

Resident, Maxine Wright, said the criteria required to move into these units was that residents had to earn R3,500, were first time home owners, were South African citizens and must have dependants. A Government subsidy for each unit was given to the amount of R 18,400.

“We want to know why they asked for families to live in the units and why they allowed us to put in burglar guards and gates and tile the place if our stay was only short term. We also had the water account put in our names, why would they do this if it was just a renting scheme?” said Wright.

Other questions residents want answered is that if their current accommodation was only temporary, why hadn’t officials told residents after five years that their time was up? They also wanted to know why, in the 13 years the tenants had lived in these homes, no meetings had been held to inform them of any changes.

“No committee was ever elected by First Metro as stated in the manual and rent increases were never discussed with the tenants. Why then is First Metro referred to as the ‘seller’ and the occupant as the ‘buyer’ on a document received from the Housing Department? All the occupants living in Howell Road Estate were under the impression that they would be given ownership of the homes, because they are RDP houses. We believed that ownership would be given to us even though it was not stated in the lease agreement because our subsidies were used. We thought this entitled us,” she said.

According to Wright, a percentage of the people that resided in Howell Road had requested housing subsidies but were told that they already had subsidies which were used up for Howell Road. Banks did not approve home loans due to the fact that existing subsidies were used as first time home owners.

However, in the Tenant Information Guide which is readily available on the First Metro Website a paragraph explaining the relationship between the tenants and the landord, First Metro, clearly states that First Metro owns the property and makes affordable homes available to people who need accommodation and qualify to live in the units. “People who live in our units will never own them as they are for rental purposes only,” it reads.

“The land was purchased in 2001. The institutional subsidy was applied extensively on this project and beneficiaries’ applicants that were approved by Department of Housing enjoyed the comfort of renting the two bedroom units. Development took the form of single, double, triple and quad units and the project commenced in the year 2002 and reached a 100 per cent occupancy rate in April 2003.” reads the document.

The document explains the Institutional Subsidies as financial aid that First Metro received from the government. The subsidies are paid to the institution that owns and manages the units who receives it on behalf of the tenant who qualifies for the subsidy. These criteria required applicants to be SA citizens, gear a gross household earning of nor more than R3500 per month, first time home owners and had not received a government subsidy before. They should be older than 21, married or have dependants.

“We are not in favour of First Metro removing tenants with brutal force. We the community of Howell Road Estate feel that it is our constitutional right in this democratic country after living here for 13 years to own these houses. Most of the occupants who have resided here from the start are now nearing pensionable age and it will be impossible to obtain a bank loan. No bank will take that risk in this time of recession and over indebtedness,” she said.

Wright said The Howell Road committee and Howell Road community felt that residents had a right to ownership and once this was acquired, they would request a refund for the amounts residents had overpaid on these units.

“West Ridge has a similar project which started in 1999 and they aren’t paying rent, which they haven’t done for two years and their councillor has made sure that they do not pay rent and do not get evicted either.

Social housing is something that doesn’t work for the disadvantaged. When we moved in we qualified and could afford it and now that we can’t, we are being evicted with nowhere to go and nobody seems able to help us. Social housing is short term. We are looking for a long term solution, no rent for life!” said Wright.

According to First Metro’s website, it does not appear to own or manage a project in West Ridge. No First Metro spokesman were available for comment at the time of posting this story. Updates will follow.