Western Cape minister for human settlements Bonginkosi Madikizela welcomes the use of social media to drive new solutions for fundraising.
In light of this, he applauded the recent initiative by Property24.com and non-profit organisation Habitat for Humanity SA (HFHSA) to contribute to providing housing.
The partnership's "Clicks for Bricks" challenge will see a home built with the help of the property search engine's Facebook community.
"I welcome creative initiatives from businesses and non-governmental organisations to provide housing solutions for people in need in SA, and recognise a good fit between Property24.com and Habitat for Humanity," says Madikizela.
For every "like" that Property24 receives on its Facebook page, it has pledged to donate R5 towards the R91 000 cost of building a new home.
The goal is to achieve 18 200 "likes", donate R91 000 to HFHSA, and then invite members of the page to be part of the building team that constructs the home. Users can get involved and track the challenge's progress by visiting Property24's Facebook page.
The Facebook page shows that the challenge has so far received 5 833 “like” clicks, or R29 165.
Backlog awareness
The housing backlog in SA is expected to take another two decades to clear, says Property24.
The latest statistics from the president's coordinating council show that 2.1 million homes are still required for 12 million people.
The “Clicks for Bricks” project was initiated to raise awareness around the country's housing shortage.
“Every day we see thousands of people searching for their dream homes. But the stark reality is that for so many South Africans formal, sustainable housing seems like a pipe dream,” says JP Farinha, GM of Property24.com.
HFHSA says its model is based on community participation, as well as 60 hours of “sweat equity” from the beneficiary, meaning physical work on other people's houses, before qualifying for their own house.
Once a beneficiary qualifies for a house, they are taken through a series of workshops covering essential topics such as budgeting, how to pay rates and taxes, home maintenance and financial planning for the future.
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