Social housing company Communicare says while it is encouraged by the City’s approval of the public participation processes for social housing projects in the Cape Town Central Business District (CBD), the announcement is merely the first step in the process.
Late last month, the City announced that City of Cape Town council approved the commencement of the public participation processes for more than 700 social housing units in the CBD.
Malusi Booi, Mayco member for human settlements, says the proposed Newmarket Street land release in town includes about 365 mixed-market units and 165 social housing units.
He says the Pickwick property in Salt River comprises a 1 800-unit development, proposed to include about 600 social housing units. He says all necessary public participation and due processes will be followed.
Makhosi Kubheka, Chief Operations Officer (COO) at Communicare, says they welcome the City’s decision to develop social housing on prime property close to the city.
“We are encouraged by the progress the City is making in the delivery of low cost and social housing for residents close to main transport routes, accessible amenities and job opportunities. This is a step in the right direction, despite the slow progress, to address the spacial inequality in our city.”
Kubheka says the development of mixed-use properties such as Salt River Market sets a precedent for including marginal communities in the mainstream of society while integrating low cost and social housing with retail opportunities.
“This decision begins to reverse the chronic housing backlog at a time when many residents are falling out of the bond market due to rising interest rates.”
Kubheka says there are still many hurdles to overcome.
“There are several administrative and procedural hurdles to be resolved before Communicare can break ground on the property it has earmarked for development. We look forward to engaging with the City to resolve the outstanding issues to fast track the delivery of social housing.”
Robyn Park-Ross, researcher at Ndifuna Ukwazi, says while they welcome the progress the release of these sites still offer no deeper clarity on when the projects will be completed and by which social housing company.
Ndifuna Ukwazi is an activist organisation and law centre that promotes constitutional rights and social justice.
“We are hoping that this release marks a sense of urgency from the City to deliver on these commitments. For instance, councillor Booi hosted a ground-breaking ceremony marking the notional construction of Pine Road social housing project (in front of the media) in the third quarter of 2019. To date, very little progress has been made and the processes have moved at a glacial pace.”
Park-Ross says there is a housing crisis in Cape Town. He adds that the announcement by the City does little for the people of Cape Town who are in urgent need of secure and affordable homes.
“Thousands of people in Cape Town are experiencing homelessness, thousands live in shacks, thousands have insecure tenure, and thousands cannot afford to buy a home, with the average price of a home being R1,5 million. The City expects the private sector to address this need, but has no plans in place to regulate the private sector.
“The City had also committed to have an inclusionary housing policy in place by June 2021, which is, once more, yet to be realised. This is while many developers have made commitments to provide affordable housing despite the lack of policy.”
According to Booi, the City has more than 6 500 social housing units in the pipeline across 50 land parcels citywide. These include 2 000 social housing units in the CBD and a further 2 500 opportunities – either in the construction phase or close to it – along the Voortrekker Road Corridor and near “important economic nodes”.
Booi says: “This is an exciting time for us. Our plans of building Cape Town together are coming along and there is the will and great desire for real action and delivery, despite the heavy regulatory environment that we are operating in. The City is doing everything in its power to expedite processes.”
He says the City’s recently launched Land Release Programme is a priority programme of Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.
It focuses on:
- A more fluid and rapid pipeline of land release for social housing;
- identifying large mixed-use sites for private sector development;
- unlocking the massive potential of micro-developers;
- developing an enabling environment to accelerate land release;
Booi says: “In building Cape Town as a City of Hope, the land release programme aims to unlock and drive the potential for a large-scale public private sector social housing programme.”
- For details and to apply visit: https://www.capetown.gov.za/City-Connect/Apply/City-housing-and-properties/Housing-opportunities/Apply-for-social-housing
