Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has announced six new sites for housing in Cape Town.
The building of affordable, social and inclusionary housing developments will most likely commence in July.
Brett Herron, the mayoral committee member for transport and urban development, said the new sites for affordable housing were: Drury Street (Cape Town), New Market Street (Cape Town), Earl Street (Woodstock), Mountain Road (Woodstock) and Pickwick Street (Woodstock). Another site for future housing was Canterbury Road in Cape Town.
Pine Road, Dillon Lane, and Bromwell Street were identified for social housing. Sites that would be developed for transitional housing were: James Street (Salt River) and Pickwick Road (Salt River).
The City of Cape Town recently released a prospectus to bidders for the development of the housing. The deadline for proposals for the sites is February 27. The proposals will be screened by the Bid Evaluation Committee and those that meet the conditions will be open for public viewing and voting.
Herron said: “A further three sites have already been allocated to Social Housing Institutions for development as social housing; another site is to be developed as affordable housing in the future. The remaining two sites will be developed by the City of Cape Town as transitional housing. These 11 City-owned sites - five of which will be made available to the private sector for development - are less than 5km from the Cape Town CBD.
“We estimate that approximately 4000 lower-income households - these are households with a monthly income of between R3501 and R15000 - will move into these units as they are completed and become available.”
Herron further said he'd had meetings with residents’ associations and interest groups in Woodstock and Salt River over the past weeks.
“I have also received many letters. One of the key concerns raised is that affordable housing developments may have a negative influence on property prices and the overall character of these neighbourhoods.”
Herron said the sites that were identified for the developments were derelict and unused.
“We, together with the private sector, intend to invest millions of rand in these sites. This investment will significantly contribute to the regeneration of Woodstock and Salt River,” Herron said.