House Chairperson, the ACDP would like to take this opportunity to raise again Government’s equivocation over Special Needs Housing (SHN). We are exasperated at the persistent gap between the Ministry’s eloquent promises on special needs housing and its painfully slow, sometimes contradictory, execution.
Special Needs Housing is shelter for orphans, those with disabilities; terminally ill and frail people; destitute people; substance abuse rehabilitation services; parolees and people released on probation, victims of serious crime and human trafficking, older people; and victims of GBV—desperate people who need housing.
Eventually, after many years of cajoling, the policy was formally approved back in October 22. NGOs say thirteen pilot projects were identified, twelve applications submitted, and both national and provincial Social Development officials trained; yet the programme itself has never been activated: no launch, no circular, no cost-rate updates since 2019, and certainly no instruction empowering provinces to process applications. The result? Provincial departments are reluctant to budget for Special Needs Housing in the 2026/27 cycle because the national Department of Human Settlements has not cleared the policy fog it created.
Meanwhile, NPOs, serving people who cannot wait, submit applications into a void. Victim-support organisations in Limpopo and elsewhere, serving women and their children fleeing gender-based violence, are reported to receive no feedback at all.
Government speaks passionately about GBV from every podium in this country, yet the very programme designed to house its victims is stranded on the tarmac. This is not merely an administrative delay; it is a moral failure of political will. The ACDP calls for the Department to activate the Special Needs Housing programme immediately, to update cost norms, issue binding implementation directives, and establish a transparent tracking system for NPO applications; a public NPO dashboard showing status, queries, and expected time frames of implementation.
I thank you.
