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Indigent benefits

Indigent benefits

Residents can apply for indigent benefits with the City to help them pay their rates, service charges or City housing rental payments.

The City’s indigent benefits

Indigent benefits assist struggling individuals, pensioners and people with disabilities to continue to receive their basic City services such as water and refuse collection, in line with our Credit Control and Debt Collection Policy.

If you qualify, you could receive a 100% rebate (refund) on your property rate, 15 000 litres of free water per month (including 10 500 litres of sewage) and free refuse collection. If you rent a home from the City, and are struggling to make your monthly rental payments, our indigent benefits could help you cover part of the costs.

Who qualifies for support?

You may qualify for indigent support if you:

  • are a homeowner
  • earn R7 500 or less per month
  • own only one property
  • are the full-time occupant of the home
  • use your home mainly for residential purposes (60% of the size of the house or property)
  • are a child who lives in the home of a parent who has passed away, or
  • received the house in a divorce settlement

other criteria

Whether you qualify or not will also depend on your employment status and whether you depend on a pension or a social grant for your livelihood.

If you earn R7 500 or less per month, you could qualify for a 100% discount.

Services rebates

For questions relating to housing grants, you can consult our Housing Grant Leaflet or see our application guide below.

Apply for indigent rates and service relief

If you do not rent a house from the City of Cape Town, you need to be registered as an indigent before you can apply to receive any rates relief, or indigent support from us. Visit City Connect for more information on how to apply for indigent relief for rates and services:

Apply for indigent housing benefits

You can apply for additional support to assist with your monthly City housing rental payments. This is separate from the process to apply for a City housing opportunity.

Visit City Connect for a step-by-step guide on how to apply for the benefits:

Contact us

For more information on indigent benefits and financial relief:

If you need more help with housing payment relief, please visit your local housing office.

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