President Cyril Ramaphosa stated that the government is committed to building more houses for South Africans in the coming years.
The president made these comments during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday in Cape Town.
"Going forward, we are going to build more housing in our city centres and closer to work and business opportunities," he said.
Ramaphosa said that government is also redesigning the country's housing subsidies and directing more funding towards programmes that enable people to buy or rent a home in an area of their choice.
'We will release more land'
"We will release more underutilised state properties for affordable housing development. We are working with provinces and metros to reclaim buildings that have been hijacked in the city centres and repurpose them for public use," he added.
The president also said government will provide 300,000 serviced stands to qualifying beneficiaries to enable housing development in well-planned, connected communities along key development corridors.
He added that government is committed to clearing the backlog of title deeds for subsidised housing, in the hopes of turning homes into household assets.
"We will review land use, building and other regulations to enable low-cost property development, including backyard housing. This represents a fundamental rethink of how the state delivers housing at scale while turning our cities into engines of growth and opportunity," Ramaphosa said.
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