I am in a wheelchair. How can I get an RDP house?

The long answer

Thank you for your email about how to apply for an RDP house as a disabled person.

Groundup has written an article on how to apply for an RDP house, so we will copy and paste the relevant bits for you here:

Disabled people are supposed to be given priority for RDP houses and the houses are also supposed to be adapted to their needs:

To qualify for an RDP house you must meet the National Housing Subsidy Scheme criteria. This means you must be:

• A South African citizen

• Over 21 and mentally competent to sign a contract

• Married or living with a partner, or single and have dependants (single military veterans or aged people without dependents also qualify)

• Earn less than R3,500 per month per household (so if two people in your family earn and these earnings amount to more than R3,500 per month you will not qualify)

• A first time government subsidy recipient

• A first time home owner

It is illegal to sell an RDP house before you’ve lived in it for eight years. It is illegal to rent out an RDP house.

To apply for an RDP house take the following documents to a provincial office of the Department of Human Settlements (DHS) or your municipal offices:

• Applicant and spouse’s identity documents (green book or ID card)

• Certified copies of birth certificates of children

• Proof of income if working, e.g. salary slip

To check how far you are on the waiting list for a house, you can call 0800 146 873 or go to your municipality’s website. For Eastern Cape, call Government Housing Assistance on this number: 043 711 9901/2/3

Note: There is a common misconception that individual ward councillors are involved with the allocation process. They are not! Ward councillors can tell you where to go and who to speak to so that you can register on the housing database, but a ward councillor is not involved in the allocation of houses and you shouldn’t pay a ward councillor to take up your case.