FLISP housing: A subsidy to help you own your own home

Article summary

• The First Home Finance (formerly known as FLISP) housing subsidy helps you obtain private home ownership with government help.
• The subsidy is aimed at people in a low-income bracket (R3 501 to R22 000 per month).
• You can apply for the housing subsidy with the help of a home loan comparison service such as ooba Home Loans.

What do we mean by First Home Finance (formerly known as FLISP) housing? It’s not government housing, it’s private housing with a government subsidy.

The subsidy helps you own your very own home, even if you’re in a low-income bracket. In fact, First Home Finance housing is aimed specifically at low-income earners.

What you need to know about First Home Finance housing

1. How do I qualify for First Home Finance housing?
2. How much is the First Home Finance housing subsidy?
3. How do I apply for the First Home Finance housing subsidy?
4. How does the First Home Finance housing subsidy help me acquire a home?

1. How do I qualify for First Home Finance housing?

First and foremost, your income must range from R3 501 to R22 000 per month.

Other criteria:

• You must be a South African citizen with permanent residency in South Africa.
• You must not have received a government housing subsidy before.
• You must be married or cohabiting OR single with financial dependents.
• You must be over 18 years old.
• You must not have owned a fixed residential property before.

2. How much is the First Home Finance housing subsidy?

The subsidy ranges from R38 878 to R169 264, depending on your income. The lower your income, the higher the subsidy.

3. How do I apply for a FLISP housing subsidy?

You can apply online with ooba Home Loans. We provide a form that you can complete in a matter of minutes.

Find out if you qualify and apply with us. We submit the application form on your behalf and monitor the progress of your application so we can update you as needed.

Apply for the subsidy

with ooba Home Loans. The process is as follows:

• Submit the home loan application.
• Fill in the form on our website.
• After you’ve filled in the form, an ooba Home Loans consultant will get in touch to determine that you fit the profile for a First Home Finance subsidy.
• The consultant completes and submits the prequalification form.
• The outcome is reported to the buyer.

Note The application process should take around 7 days.

Documents needed to apply

• RSA bar-coded Identity Document (ID)
• Bar-coded Permanent Residence Permit (where applicable)
• Birth Certificates/RSA IDs of all financial dependants (where
• applicable)
• Proof of Foster Children Guardianship (where applicable)
• Marriage Certificate, Civil Union Certificate or Cohabiting Affidavit,
• Proof of Partnership (where applicable)
• Divorce Settlement (where applicable)
• Spouse’s Death Certificate (where applicable)
• Proof of Monthly Income
• Home Loan Approval in Principle/Grant letter from an accredited
• Lender
• Agreement of sale for the residential property
• Building Contract and Approved Building Plan (where applicable)

ooba Home Loans will help you collect and organise the various documents.

4. How does the First Home Finance housing subsidy help me acquire a home?

You can:

• Use the subsidy as a deposit.
• Pay the subsidy toward your home loan, reducing your monthly repayments and home loan term. If you plan to pay the FLISP subsidy into your home loan, use our Extra Payments Calculator to determine the amount by which it will reduce your monthly repayments and home loan term.

You can also use the subsidy to build a home:

• You can use the subsidy to buy a serviced residential site (a plot with access to basic services), although you must be registered on the Western Cape Housing Demand Database.
• You can use it to build a house on a serviced residential site that was not acquired through a government subsidy in the past. Note that your builder must be registered with the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC).

So if you’re a low-income earner dreaming of home ownership, remember that the FLISP housing subsidy can make this dream a reality.