Step it up: Public housing initiative sees R1,2 bn investment – launch in Woodlands, MPlain
15 May 2024
The City’s Mayco Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Carl Pophaim, today visited a major public housing staircase replacement project in Woodlands, Mitchells Plain as part of the big boost priority investment in public housing maintenance and repairs of more than R1,2 billion over the next three years. More than 1 300 staircases have already been replaced across the metro.
'It is amazing to see this massive and intricate work being done at our public housing in Woodlands. This is part of the emergency staircase replacement programme that has seen more than 1 300 priority staircases upgraded and replaced across the metro. At the end of last year, an extra R30 million was made available for the staircase programme.
'Our Big Boost public housing campaign sees us investing more than R1,2 bn on maintenance, upgrades and emergency staircase replacement in areas across the metro over the next few years. We have about 45 000 rental units, making the City one of the largest landlords in South Africa and we have limited resources so we look at urgent maintenance work first.
‘By far the majority of service requests are related to vandalism. If we could reduce the incidents of vandalism, we could do so much more with our maintenance budget and free up more teams for emergency work.
‘We ask our tenants to report urgent maintenance issues to their nearest housing office and to remember that their rental payments help the City to maintain our housing. Our public housing holds the keys to a brighter future, where living spaces are enhanced in a safe and dignified manner. I ask our tenants if they see theft and vandalism and unlawful occupation of our units happening, to please say something and report it to 021 480 7700. Anonymous tip-offs are welcomed,’ said Councillor Pophaim.
Priority given to emergency repairs:
- Due to the large volume of service requests, it is the City’s priority to attend to the most urgent repairs first. Staircase repairs and replacement was identified as a priority.
- The majority of repair work required at our public housing units is unfortunately due to vandalism and theft.
End
Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
