The Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Carl Pophaim, visited the teams doing the work.
‘The City’s Public Housing maintenance and upgrades investment campaign was launched this year and we are boosting our efforts across the city. Our priority repairs and maintenance includes repairs and replacing of staircases. It is especially pleasing to invest in the living conditions of our valued elderly tenants.
‘One of our service offering enhancement methods is through our CRU maintenance days, where we pool resources from a number of City maintenance depots and attend to a large number of service requests. This has been a great method and we will continue to use this additional service offering method across the city. Our mission to enhance our public housing units is ongoing, and our work is especially important for our senior citizen tenants. We are taking back our CRUs and we are ensuring that we create dignified and safer CRUs for all communities.
‘While we are doing our best to improve the lives of residents in our public housing units, it is alarming to see that the majority of our repair work is related to damaged infrastructure because of theft and vandalism. This month, a resident was left without water supply when plumbing was stolen in the the block. We simply cannot allow ongoing vandalism to take place in our rental units, and we want to urge residents to report any suspicious incidents to us.
‘Vandalism and theft at our Council flats has a direct impact on us all and we ask that when you see something, to say something by calling 021 480 7700. The City is one of the biggest landlords in the country with more than 45 000 highly subsidised rental units offering affordable housing for more than 200 000 residents. We are very dependent on rental income to pay for maintenance and we ask our tenants to play their part in making sure their payments are up to date,’ said Councillor Pophaim.
See something? Say something!
Anonymous tip-offs:
Report suspicious behaviour to the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre on 021 480 7700.
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