Revamped BHC scheme avails 6,000 houses
Pauline Dikuelo | Tuesday September 20, 2016 18:00
According to minister Prince Maele, they have decided to re-introduce the TPS after it was suspended about 12 years ago to fill the gap that has not been filled by the BHC’s sitting tenants campaign scheme.
“We have decided to re-introduce this scheme to enable Batswana who have been renting BHC houses an opportunity to own them. We have looked at what failed in the first place and have worked at it and can assure that this one will be properly managed,” he said.
Unlike the BHC’s current sitting tenets campaign where purchasers buy the houses through bank loans, the TPS allows tenants’ instalments to be deducted directly from their salaries.
Maele said the scheme was introduced about 30 years ago by the government to help promote home ownership amongst tenants. The scheme was suspended 18 years later in 2004 after it encountered some administratitive challenges and high level of arrears. According to Maele the scheme by then was not targeted and the process of records did not facilitate the management of the scheme, which resulted in a lot of arrears.
“By that time, the scheme encountered many arrears. In 2004 when it was suspended, they amounted to P44 million which we have been able to scale down to P1.5 million that is currently outstanding,” he added.
In addition, the minister assured that this time around they have targeted people who qualify for the scheme compared to the last one that was available to anyone who was renting a BHC house adding that they have put robust systems in place ready for the roll out of the scheme. Maele noted that the system would be adapting defaulters from the precious scheme in order to manage them properly.
“We are going to have a vetting process for purchasers and take every application to the banks and see if the person doesn’t qualify for normal mortgages.
“This scheme is strictly for tenants who do not qualify for the bank housing loans,” he added.
Currently, the scheme targets Batswana who are aged 65 years and below, renting BHC houses across the country.
Still on efforts to promote home ownership, the government recently introduced a housing scheme aimed at promoting home ownership amongst citizen public service employees of Grade D4 and below who cannot access housing from the open market. Through the scheme, public service employees could get a loan amounting to P90,000 with no interest.
Other schemes include the Intergraded Poverty Alleviation Scheme which targets people earning P400 and below, the Self Help Housing Scheme (SHAA) as well as the BHC’s sitting tenants scheme which accords the sitting tenants an opportunity to buy houses through bank loans.