GMSA Foundation Receives the Impumelelo Platinum Award
Congratulations to the GMSA Foundation on receiving the Impumelelo Platinum Award!
A housing project in Walmer, Port Elizabeth, that bridges the affordability gap in home ownership for low- and middle-income earners has been recognised with an Impumelelo Platinum Award for its initiator and seed funder, the GM South Africa (GMSA) Foundation.
The Walmer Link housing project has made home ownership possible for people who qualify for government assistance to obtain a bond to buy a house but find a gap between what they can afford and what is available in the property market. The development also incorporates a rental component for lower-income earners, enabling them to gain a foothold on the property ladder.
The project won one of four platinum awards from the Impumelelo Social Innovation Centre, presented in Cape Town on 1 December 2013. The awards recognise best practice in delivering innovative solutions to South Africa’s social problems.
Presenting the award, Impumelelo Executive Director Rhoda Kadalie described GMSA Foundation General Manager Roger Matlock and Lance Del Monte, executive director of The Home Market, the implementation agency for the project, as having done more for housing in South Africa than anyone else.
Walmer Link is the latest of the GMSA Foundation’s successful housing projects, which aim to address the housing crisis in South Africa by making optimal use of government housing subsidy schemes to develop affordable housing and sustainable, functioning communities.
In line with the GMSA Foundation’s approach to its projects in both housing and education, the Walmer Link project can be replicated by other agencies elsewhere in the country.
Walmer Link, for which the Foundation provided seed funding and bridging finance, borders both the suburban and township areas of the suburb of Walmer. It consists of 432 for-sale and 347 for-rent units, and is the first project in South Africa to access the government’s Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP). Homebuyers with monthly incomes of R3, 500 to R15, 000 may access FLISP funding for the deposit needed to secure a home loan from a bank.
The for-rent component uses the government’s Social Housing Programme (SHP) grants and subsidies to offer apartments at subsidised, income-linked rentals for those earning between R1,500 and R7,500 per month.
“There has been little uptake of the FLISP subsidy by developers, because on its own it doesn’t bring selling prices to truly affordable levels. With this model, we have shown that by designing for affordability and taking advantage of cheap and well-located land as well as higher residential densities, it is possible to bring quality, affordable home ownership into reach for people who were previously under-served in the property market,” Matlock said
