How do I apply for a house?

The long answer

Thank you for your email saying that you have not received a house after applying for one.

After applying for a house, it usually does take a very long time before a person gets a house. You can call 0800 146 873 to find out what has happened with your application or go to your municipality’s website.

We will paste part of a Groundup article below about housing that I hope will help you:

RDP houses:

These are houses that have been built by the government and are given to low income families. Government Subsidy houses are owned, not rented, by beneficiaries.

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

If you are disabled you are supposed to be given preference and your house is supposed to be adapted to meet your needs.

To apply for a government Subsidy house take the following documents to a provincial office of the 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

You will be asked to fill in a housing subsidy application form. Depending on your province or municipality, you will then be registered on the National Housing Needs Register or your Municipal Housing Demands Database. This is a “waiting list”. Once the project is finalized and the houses built, you will be given keys and a title deed to your home, but it can take many years.

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.

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.

Note: allocation of government built houses is complex. Each municipality or province has different systems for housing allocation, and so the information here is only a guide of what is available and how to apply. Each municipality has its own system for appeals, but each province’s MEC is allowed to review applications on a case-by-case basis. If your application gets rejected, try contacting your MEC of Human Settlements for help.

Government housing assistance contact details

Housing Enquiries Hotline: 0800 146 873

Gauteng: 011 355 4000

Western Cape: 079 769 1207 (Please Call Me)

Eastern Cape: 043 711 9901/2/3

KwaZulu Natal: 033 392 6400 or 033 3365300

North West: 018 388 5403

Limpopo: 015 284 5000

Northern Cape: 053 830 9422

Free State: 051 405 3883

Mpumalanga: 013 766 6087