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New Market Street land release for affordable housing

<p>Council Speech<br></p>

<div><strong>Speech by the City's Executive Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis at a special council meeting on 31 May 2024. </strong><br></div><div><br></div><div>Madam Speaker,</div><div><br></div><div>Fellow City of Cape Town Councillors and Team Cape Town officials,</div><div><br></div><div>Members of the public,</div><div><br></div><div>Goeiemôre, molweni, as-salaamu alaikum, shalom, good morning.</div><div><br></div><div>What an exciting time this is for our country, as we mark 30 years of democracy with the conclusion of a national and provincial election that will undoubtedly go down in history as a watershed event for South Africa.</div><div><br></div><div>It is not often that you are afforded an opportunity to chart a brand new course for your country.</div><div><br></div><div>We must cherish the fact that our opportunity came in the wake of such an orderly and peaceful election, and that, for the most part, the outcome was seen for what it is: a new mandate for a new approach to fixing South Africa.</div><div><br></div><div>Even though voter turnout was lower that we’d perhaps hoped for, the citizens of South Africa have sent a clear signal for change. And, aside from a few parties who are struggling to come to terms with their election haul, the results have been widely accepted with maturity and grace.</div><div><br></div><div>We dare not waste this precious opportunity. South Africa is in desperate need of a reset. There are just too many struggling and vulnerable South Africans who don’t have the luxury of time, and who cannot wait for yet another election cycle before we start to turn things around.</div><div><br></div><div>We need to get our economy growing and creating jobs, at scale, now.</div><div><br></div><div>We need to overhaul and professionalise our state now. </div><div><br></div><div>We need to fix SAPS and devolve more policing powers to municipal officers now so that we can protect communities from the scourge of violent crime.</div><div><br></div><div>We need to diversify our country’s energy mix now so that we can protect households and businesses and put an end to load-shedding.</div><div><br></div><div>We need capable metros running passenger rail now so that we can get more people to work safely, and affordably.</div><div><br></div><div>None of these things can wait another five years, and so it is critical that we make the most of this door that has opened for us.</div><div><br></div><div>Many countries will never get such an opportunity for a reset. Let us pray that level heads remain, and that those with the power in their hands to determine which road we take from here, use that power responsibly and in the interest of 60 million South Africans.</div><div><br></div><div>Madam Speaker</div><div><br></div><div>While we hope for a much more enabling national policy environment, that is pro-poor and pro-economic growth, we as the City are not waiting around in delivering on our pledges, with yet another final land release for more affordable housing on the Council agenda today.</div><div><br></div><div>As every councillor in this meeting knows, the affordable housing landscape in our country has changed considerably over the years, mainly due to cuts in housing grants from national government.</div><div><br></div><div>Of all the grants that metros receive from national government, housing and informal settlement upgrading grants are among the most directly pro-poor type of funding, and the worst place to make national budget cuts.</div><div><br></div><div>Alternatives exist, and it’s time we used them. Let’s start by trimming the bloated national cabinet. Let’s collapse redundant departments into other ministries. Let’s take steps to cut the enormous waste highlighted by the Auditor General every year. And let’s come down hard on corruption.</div><div><br></div><div>But rather than dealing with all this waste and corruption in the state, national government has consistently opted to cut its pro-poor grant funding to municipalities and provinces over the years, including R107m slashed from Cape Town’s housing grants in this financial year alone.</div><div><br></div><div>For a metro like the City of Cape Town, these cuts hit particularly hard, because our city is growing faster than any other metro in the country, and we’re about to overtake Johannesburg as South Africa’s most populous metro. </div><div><br></div><div>We should rightfully be getting more grant-funding and a bigger equitable share that accounts for our true population size.</div><div><br></div><div>We’ve also been particularly good at spending our housing grants. Since the start of this term of office, the City of Cape Town has spent a minimum of 99% of our grants for housing and informal settlements. </div><div><br></div><div>And we have no intention of slowing down either.</div><div><br></div><div>Over the next three years, the City will spend R3,7 billion in informal settlement upgrades and BNG housing.</div><div><br></div><div>That number includes R126 million for new water, sanitation, and waste installations; R36 million for electrifications; R1 billion in upgrades to bulk services, in-situ upgrades, serviced sites, roads, super-blocking and emergency interventions; and R2,5 billion for BNG housing.</div><div><br></div><div>We’ve also had to change strategy in the face of ongoing grant cuts, positioning the City as an enabler for much more private sector-led affordable housing delivery, including the release of discounted land for social housing, and ramping up support for micro-developers in townships.</div><div><br></div><div>This is has been one of the City’s biggest success stories to date.</div><div><br></div><div>Last year alone we released more than 2 200 social housing units across seven land parcels under our priority programme – most of these in Cape Town’s inner city.</div><div><br></div><div>Municipal-owned properties in central Cape Town that have been released to social housing developers to date will yield more than 4 900 affordable units, including over 2 100 social housing units. They include New Market Street, Pine Road, Dillon Lane, and Pickwick in Woodstock, as well as Salt River Market and the now tenanted Maitland Mews development.</div><div><br></div><div>And today I am thrilled to announce that we have reached yet another big milestone in this programme. </div><div><br></div><div>Because today before Council we have the final land release of the Newmarket Street site in Woodstock, right on the edge of the CBD, as part of the City's Accelerated Land Release for Affordable Housing Programme.</div><div><br></div><div>You may recall that the original feasibility study for this 9 000 square meter property envisaged 200 social units as part of a mixed-use development. However, that number was brought up to 375 units, which will be cross-subsidised by retail space and more than 300 gap and market rental units.</div><div><br></div><div>This property is in a prime location in Woodstock, close to all amenities and public transport, and just five minutes from the City Centre. </div><div><br></div><div>It is the kind of address that will change the lives of the 200 tenants and their families who will be moving in upon completion.</div><div><br></div><div>We have also rezoned the Newmarket Street property in order to reduce the development timeframes following the release.</div><div><br></div><div>I cannot wait for this development to get underway, because there is no greater joy in this job than seeing such a fundamental positive difference in the lives of Capetonians.</div><div><br></div><div>I also have to mention here that one of the reasons why we are able to increase the yield of social housing units on these land parcels is the new set of guidelines we adopted in this Council just over a year ago.</div><div><br></div><div>These new guidelines provide clarity on which factors the City considers when discounting the land we release to social housing institutions and private developers, and allow for an accelerated city land release for more affordable housing.</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks to these transparent guidelines, it is clear that our intent with this land release programme is explicitly to maximise the number of affordable units on the property, and to make these decisions legally and constitutionally.</div><div><br></div><div>This model is the future of affordable housing – where the state plays an enabling role by discounting the land and providing bulk services, allowing the private sector to deliver the housing units.</div><div><br></div><div>And here in Cape Town it’s working exceptionally well. In total, city-wide, we have over 6 500 social housing units at various stages of the planning pipeline across 50 parcels of land.</div><div><br></div><div>These units are a real game changer for qualifying residents who earn less that R22,000 a month. </div><div><br></div><div>Built on well-located land close to the city centre or other business nodes, they place lower-income Capetonians right on the doorstep of opportunities, jobs, schools and other services.</div><div><br></div><div>When we speak about building a City of Hope, that is precisely what hope looks like. The realistic expectation that your future will be better than your present, and that your children will be in a better position to realise their own dreams.</div><div><br></div><div>Affordable, well-located social housing is arguably the most impactful way to change lives and bring hope, and we must do all we can to accelerate these programmes.</div><div><br></div><div>My hope is that this new chapter for our country will bring positive changes in the affordable housing space too, with a realisation that sufficient housing subsidies to capable metros – enough to stimulate housing delivery at pace and scale – is just about the most progressive and pro-poor way to spend your budget.</div><div><br></div><div>I also hope that these winds of change will blow in a fresh urgency into the release of some of the mega-properties owned by national government throughout our metro. </div><div><br></div><div>We estimate that around 100 000 social housing opportunities are possible at sites such as Wingfield, Youngsfield, Ysterplaat and the Parliamentary village. </div><div><br></div><div>I urge those tasked with these decisions going forward to come and visit some of Cape Town’s social housing success stories – developments such as the recently completed 204-unit Maitland Mews, or the major Conradie Park development in the inner city feeder suburb of Pinelands, which is a successful collaboration between province, City and multiple partners.</div><div><br></div><div>What they will find there are beautiful homes – thoughtfully designed and well built – that have completely changed the lives of the Capetonians who live there.</div><div><br></div><div>And I am delighted that, today, we can set the ball rolling on Newmarket Street, Woodstock, to bring this kind of hope and opportunity to another 200 Cape Town families.</div><div><br></div><div>That’s why today is a good day here in the City of Hope.</div><div><br></div><div>Thank you.</div><div><br><br></div><p><br></p>

2024-06-11T22:00:00Z

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