Woodstock hospital: City moves forward with social housing plans, seeks court ordered survey of illegal occupants

01 February 2021

The City of Cape Town is moving forward with plans to develop social housing at Woodstock Hospital by asking the Western Cape High Court to order a survey of illegal occupants.

A court-ordered survey is needed to determine the number of illegal occupants at Woodstock Hospital, their identities, monthly income and eligibility for state-subsidised housing, and willingness to vacate the property so that social housing plans are not further delayed.

Ndifuna Ukwazi’s Reclaim the City (RTC) campaign staged highly-publicised illegal land invasions in March 2017, stalling plans for social housing at both the City-owned Woodstock Hospital site and the Helen Bowden property near the V&A Waterfront, owned by the Western Cape Government (WCG).

Development of social housing is not possible unless all the illegal occupants vacate the site. If needs be, the City will pursue eviction proceedings subject to lockdown regulations.

In October 2018, a High Court interdict was granted against further unlawful occupation attempts at the property. Despite this, the number of unlawful occupiers have increased substantially, along with reports of criminality, rent extortion rackets, violence and mob activity to the detriment of the surrounding community.

‘The toxic legacy of Ndifuna Ukwazi’s organised land invasions is the biggest obstacle to social housing on well-located sites in central Cape Town. They billed the illegal invasions as a ‘symbolic’ act, but they have lost control over the situation. We will stand up for the rule of law as a means to keep driving well-located social housing projects in line with our new human settlements strategy,’ said Executive Mayor Alderman Dan Plato.

The City is currently driving over 2 000 affordable housing opportunities already in the construction phase in and near urban centres across the metro, besides the estimated 700 units planned for Woodstock Hospital.

‘Several other well-located City projects in Woodstock are set for major milestones this year, with a projected total of around 620 social housing units. Pine Road is due to break ground, Dillon Lane is at development application stage, and Salt River Market is now just months away from handover to a social housing developer,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements Councillor Malusi Booi.

The City and WCG are also 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.

In District Six, the City is hosting extensive engagements with residents on a Local Spatial Development Framework, and the WCG 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.

But social housing could be derailed at Woodstock Hospital if the Ndifuna Ukwazi enabled occupants refuse to vacate and the necessary high court orders are not granted.

End

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office