Subcouncil 14

Resolution detail

The Subcouncil Chairperson introduced this item and further granted an opportunity to the official to give a detailed report. Mr. Kewana indicated that they were supposed to present this item to Subcouncil 14 in June but missed the opportunity because they were only two and scheduled for many meetings in different Subcouncils. The Portfolio Committee resolved that they should attend to unlawful occupants in rental stock across the COCT and brief the Subcouncils in terms of the actions they will take to deal with unlawful occupants. They have established a Task Team to focus on this task as they have been requested by the Portfolio Committee to report on a quarterly basis for this project. He further highlighted that when they started with the programme in March they had 5 unlawful occupants in Athlone out of 628 units, from the unit of 1212 in Heideveld they had 8 unlawful occupants. In Manenberg, they have 3514 units, out of those there were 52 unlawful occupants. The unlawful occupation is a moving target. He mentioned that previously they were using the Occupation Policy and the Allocation Policy but these two policies were rescinded. They are now using the new policy that approved by Council on the 31st of March 2022 to be effective on the 1st of April 2022. There were unlawful occupants who did not qualify based on the previous policies but qualifies with the new policy. They have grouped the cases of the occupants who qualified in the previous policy and will apply for a deviation to the Executive Director for approval. They have also grouped cases of those who do not qualify under the old and the new policies. He mentioned that 55 occupants that will be signing lease, 17 cases were concluded. However, there is still a large number of occupants that will be facing eviction. They will be presenting a final report to the Portfolio Committee in October. There was a public outcry in Manenberg and Bishop Lavis where the community had concerns about the large number of “evictions”. They also challenged the MMC. They were required by the ED and MMC to relook on how they are going to resolve the issues without deviating from the policy. Ald Jacobs raised a concern about the number of cases recorded under Manenberg. She wanted to find out the areas in Manenberg where cases were reported. She indicated that the number of cases recorded on the report were not the actual number of reported cases in Manenberg. She further requested for a meeting with the Housing managers for Manenberg and Heideveld to identify the dates of reported cases and to find ways ofaddressing the challenges. Cllr Adams supported the proposal made by Ald Jacobs and raised a concern about the number of reported cases in Athlone, he did not believe that there are only 5 cases because he personally know more cases. However, he added that he was very familiar of the 5 addresses and was happy that action was taken against them. He added that the delay in transferring tenants is a contributing factor to illegal occupation. He recommended for the process applied by housing to be relooked to ensure that it is followed properly. He mentioned that he received 8 letters but each letter had a different subject regarding the eviction of the person in question. He emphasized for communication with the Cllrs and the Subcouncil to be improved. The Subcouncil Chairperson indicated the part that says community members have the right to reject to legality of a particular occupation is opening up to a lot of abuse. He reported that he visited one of the hostels where he witnessed a disabled man lifted to an upper unit. He mentioned that he will send an email to the department requesting for the man to be relocated to a lower unit. Ald Jacobs mentioned she has a similar case in Manenberg. Mr. Kewana indicated that they are trying to ensure that they right size people living with disability and senior citizens to lower units. As soon as a lower unit becomes available, they consider them. However, they have experienced a challenge of people declining offers of lower units that are available in different blocks; many people prefer to wait in the same block until a lower unit becomes available. He encouraged Cllrs to report similar issues to the local office to assist with finding better solutions. Mr. Kewana indicated that they follow a long process for transferring tenants. They need to ensure that they transfer a unit to the right person. In doing so, they contact the families to provide a proof of stay. The communication and submission of those documents takes long but they are trying to look at better ways of improving the process. Mr. Kewana mentioned that they are dealing with anti-social behavior issues but evicting individuals is not an easy task because they have to build credible information that they can present to the court. They are working with Social Safety Housing unit who conducts site visits, assist with evictions, assist with upgrade and maintenance but this unit is under capacitated, they have about 12 personnel who service more than 40 000 units across the COCT. Cllr Moses raised a concern about the huge number of units listed under Heideveld. He identified the challenge of illegal occupation on the land and further highlighted the need for an integrated approach in resolving housing challenges.Cllr Adams alluded to the concern of illegal occupation on the land raised by Cllr Moses. He added that another challenge is of structures that were built for more than 25 years. He raise a concern about the anti-social behavior challenge. He indicated that there is illegal occupation taking place in Kewtown rental stock. Mr. Kewana indicated that public housing is divided into two sections consisting of Hostels and Rental stock. Mr. Xolile Fula manage hostels. The programme for hostels is also trying to conclude with lease agreements and evicting those who do not qualify. Illegal structures are a huge challenge because other COCT departments such as water and electricity are required to provide services to these structures, which makes the structures recognized. He added that communication between the Cllrs and the Subcouncil should definitely be improved and mentioned that the reason they were asked to present this report to the Subcouncil was to make Cllrs understand the challenges, identify the units that might have not been included by housing to ensure that they deal with the challenges collectively. The Subcouncil Chairperson thanked Mr. Kewana and further highlighted the need for an urgent meeting with the local housing offices regarding the data provided for unlawful occupants and to follow up for the anti-social behavior cases. The Subcouncil Manager mentioned that the request will form part of the Agenda of the Activity Day meeting. Cllr Nikelo moved for noting of the report. Cllr Aslam seconded the proposal. There was unanimous agreement with the resolution. . RESOLVED It was resolved that the report on Unlawful Occupation of Rental Units BE NOTED with the comments made by Cllrs. . Action: ANTHONY DANIELS