City’s social housing plans progressing well

21 January 2021

Statement by the City's Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Malusi Booi

Enabling more affordable housing is a key imperative for the City of Cape Town. Some important Cape Town inner-city projects are coming to fruition this year if all goes according to plan. This includes the Salt River Market project, which is earmarked for handover to the Social Housing Institution in the latter part of this year. The City is currently driving over 2 000 affordable housing opportunities already in the construction phase in and near urban centres across the metro, including in the central Cape Town area.

Social housing projects are very complex and heavily regulated, including characterised by various pieces of legislation on land disposal, development, land use and public processes which take time. There are many moveable parts.

The Salt River Market project is expected to be handed over to Communicare for the purposes of social housing development by the end of this year. This specific project will be of great general benefit. It is also expected to improve the value of the local properties, as is the trend one can see with many of the other social housing projects that have been rolled out across the metro. Qualifying residents from the local community will also be given preference for accommodation in the project once it is completed.

Of the sites currently in the inner city pipeline, there are several City-driven projects in the central Cape Town area with major milestones expected to be achieved in 2021. It is important to note that the City’s focus is on suitable potential projects in all urban centres around the metro.

Pine Road (244 projected social housing units): Ready to break ground in March 2021.
Dillon Lane (160 projected social housing units): Development application in process. Public participation recently concluded.
Salt River Market (216 social housing units and 100 gap rental opportunities projected as part of 723 units total): To be handed over to the Social Housing Institution (SHI) for development in the latter part of 2021.
Woodstock Hospital: This site could be ready for handover to an SHI within 2021, but if the property is not vacated by all the “Reclaim the City”/ Ndifuna Ukwazi-enabled illegal occupants, redevelopment, including the provision of social housing units, is impossible. The same applies to the provincially owned Helen Bowden Nurse’s Home near the V&A Waterfront.

In District Six, the Western Cape Government has already built the District Six CDC healthcare facility, anticipating the return of thousands of beneficiaries to the CBD via the National Government-led restitution process. The City is hosting extensive engagements with residents about a spatial vision for District Six, called a neighbourhood plan or Local Spatial Development Framework.

In addition, the focus includes major collaborations between the City and the Western Cape Government, together driving the innovative Conradie Better Living Model (BLM) development (3 600 units total) in Pinelands, an inner city feeder suburb. Similar collaboration has succeeded in Belhar CBD (4 000 units total) where an affordable community context is being created around key education institutions.

The City recently concluded public comment on its draft Human Settlements Strategy, which foresees a range of innovative accommodation types and partnership-driven developments in urban centres across the metro.

The City already provides and enables, among others:

Breaking New Ground subsidy housing
Some 37 000 City rental units
Social housing initiatives and leveraging private sector investment
Upgrade of informal settlements and mainstreaming and enhancing basic services to cater to the growing informality
Backyard service provision to backyarders on Council-owned property
Site and service, which is to be a major new direction of housing opportunity delivery given the worsening national economic situation and the National Government budget cuts for housing
Other market and government led mechanisms to enable greater housing delivery in urban centres
Regularising self-built units to improve safety
Encouraging micro-builders in informal areas
Negotiation with National Government for the release of large tracts of underused land for housing purposes as the availability of suitable land across the metro remains limited and an important factor in the roll out of opportunities

Social housing must thus be seen as an important component of the housing mix and one that will be increasingly explored, provided appropriate property and sites do not get unlawfully occupied.

For instance, the toxic legacy of Ndifuna Ukwazi’s ‘Reclaim The City’ campaign is one of the biggest obstacles to the building of social housing on two well-located sites in urban centres of the metro that are both suitable and viable. If these properties are not vacated by all the RTC-enabled occupants, redevelopment, including the provision of social housing units, is impossible.

There have been no direct National Government budget cuts for the affordable housing projects that the City is driving however there have been substantial National Government budget cuts for housing and human settlements in general. Human settlements delivery is beset with challenges, including R1,3 billion in housing projects under threat from ongoing orchestrated land invasions, National Government budget cuts reducing our Urban Settlements Development Grant by R118 million, a weak national economy and regulatory red tape.

The City’s Human Settlements Directorate spent 98% of its Urban Settlements Development Grant capital budget in the 2019/20 financial year despite the negative impact of COVID-19 and lockdown regulations on its programmes and operations.

The City remains committed to enabling more affordable housing opportunities on suitable and well-located land across the metro through partnerships and innovation.

End

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office