'Residents must always be vigilant of potential scammers. Beneficiaries who are asked to pay for an opportunity are being scammed and are encouraged to report suspicious or illegal activity to the South African Police Service (SAPS) for their investigation. We have recently become aware of a number of different types of housing scams where residents are being asked to pay. You are being scammed, you will lose that money and you won’t get a house. 

​​‘If you are asked to pay to register on the City’s Housing Needs Register for a government housing Breaking New Ground (BNG) opportunity or a plot of City-owned land, you are being scammed. If the opportunity is advertised as a ‘RDP house’, it is a scam. If the correspondence does not have a City letterhead, you are being scammed.

‘Those who are looking for government housing are encouraged to always be aware of potential scams. If you think that you might have been the victim of a housing scam, please report it to the SAPS for investigation. Housing scams unfortunately happen often and impact the most vulnerable and desperate residents. 

‘The City’s Housing Needs Register, which is protected, updated and audited, is necessary to prevent queue-jumping and to provide opportunities in a fair, ordered manner. This is important given the acute need for housing opportunities across the metro. Qualifying beneficiaries do not need to pay to register or to receive a subsidy housing opportunity. We encourage our residents and beneficiaries to contact the City should they be concerned that they have been or are being scammed,’ said the City’s Acting Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Alderman James Vos.

Residents are encouraged to visit this link to update their details on the Housing Needs Register: https://web1.capetown.gov.za/web1/HWL2012Online/