Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced that 237 social housing units are to be built in the inner city as part of the City’s affordable housing drive, following Council’s approval of the final release of City-owned land known as the ‘Fruit & Veg’ site.

The 3 300m2 property is located between Kent and Bloemhof Streets, right on the edge of District Six and the CBD. The site is within walking distance of the city centre, MyCiTi bus stations, schools, universities, and a range of economic opportunities.

Social housing unit yield has increased from the originally proposed 180, to 237 units as part of the proposal by developer, YG Group. Overall, the mixed-use development will include 375 residential units in total and 435m2 of retail space.

‘This is the kind of address that can change people’s lives and open up entire new avenues of opportunity for them. Social housing is being maximised on this site thanks to a range of new measures passed by the City, including guidelines for discounting land, property rates and utility charges for this development.

‘We pledged to speed up the delivery of more affordable accommodation across Cape Town, and so far this term we’ve released more land for social and affordable housing than in the ten years prior combined. This is just one of the important ways in which we are breaking down the spatial legacy of the apartheid era by offering far more affordable housing options in all well-located urban centres in the metro where people want to live and work,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.

Mayor Hill-Lewis highlighted further progress under the City’s priority programme for Accelerated Land Release for Affordable Housing, including:

• An affordable housing pipeline of 12 000 well-located units across the City, including thousands of units in inner city areas such as Woodstock, Salt River and Maitland.
• Significant legislative reform to make it quicker and easier to get building approval in Cape Town
• Hands-on support for micro-developers including a new township development fund to help reduce development costs, and pre-approved building plan templates.

City Mayco Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Carl Pophaim, stressed that, while accelerated land release in Cape Town meant the City’s projects now feature strongly in national funding pipeline of the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA), constraints to the national housing subsidy regime present the biggest handbrake to the City’s social and affordable housing programme.

‘To really ignite the social housing sector in South Africa, we need national government to come to the party when it matters – in their actual budgets – as opposed to the promises made during State of the Nation Addresses. Pro-poor grant funding to metros that spend these funds well and responsibly is one of the best ways national government can spend its money. It is crucial that all three spheres of government pull together in the same direction to deliver affordable housing at scale and pace,’ said Councillor Pophaim.

The City is pioneering efforts to enable greater social and affordable housing delivery and this is aimed at households earning between R1 850 and R32 000 per month.