CAPE TOWN - Serious concerns have been raised over DA mayoral candidate Geordin Hill-Lewis’s lack of experience to address one of Cape Town’s most pressing social issues - inclusionary housing.
Until his recent mayoral nomination, the 34-year-old was a director and partner at Hillwick Pty Ltd, an investment property start-up that has plans in place to build a three-storey apartment block consisting of 21 units in Milnerton, Blaauwberg, on a property bought for R3 million.
Hill-Lewis said the apartments would likely range from R900 000 to R1.2m in price.
Speaking at the Cape Town Press Club on Tuesday, Hill-Lewis listed his goals for the metro, but made no mention of inclusionary housing.
Different from affordable housing, inclusionary housing policies will mandate suburban zoning to provide for affordable homes - meaning lower income earners will be integrated into leafier suburbs instead of continuing to live on the periphery of the City where they were forced during apartheid.
The call to push inclusionary housing has also dominated headlines, highlighted by instances including the Western Cape High Court finding the City and province had failed to comply with their constitutional and legislative obligations to address apartheid spatial planning, when land in Sea Point was sold to the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School for R135 million; and when people occupied the defunct Woodstock Hospital, renamed "Cissie Gool House".
Hill-Lewis resigned from Hillwick shortly after being nominated for the mayorship title, and he said he had also divested.
In response to questions over his experience of inclusionary housing in the City, Hill Lewis said: “I am very committed to the faster release of City-owned land for more social housing (slightly different from inclusionary housing). We need to re-kickstart the City prospectus process.”
On affordable housing, he said “I’m a strong supporter of this. The release of well located state-owned land and the support of densification is essential to diversifying Cape Town’s communities and providing more affordable accommodation to Capetonians.”
Opposition parties have strong views on whether or not inclusionary housing will become a reality in the metro.
ANC caucus leader in the City, Xolani Sotashe said it was “suspicious” that Hill-Lewis resigned from Hillwick, and the party will be keeping a close eye on their relationship.
“Housing provision is a great need in the City of Cape Town. His position has been compromised.
“There is a secured relationship with that company. We will ask questions in Council,” Sotashe said.
Good Party mayoral candidate Brett Herron said residents needed someone with experience to champion changes in housing provision.
“Cape Town needs a mayor with the experience and undivided attention to address the urgent needs of our residents.
“The lack of adequate housing and the role of development cannot be just a line in a manifesto - it needs action.
“There is no evidence or track-record to show that the DA or Hill-Lewis are serious about this issue,” Herron said.
The provincial government in July closed public comment on a new policy framework to guide the development of inclusionary housing in municipalities.
Media officer for the Department Environmental Affairs and Development Planning’s strategic and operational support directorate, Rudolf van Jaarsveldt, said they were reviewing the public input received and are taking further advice.
“We are aiming to table a revised document with our leadership early in the new calendar year. In parallel, we are going to be commissioning housing market studies for some of the intermediate cities/ larger towns in the Western Cape to deepen the evidence base to support this policy development process and the work of municipalities flowing from the introduction of this Framework,” he said.
Jonty Cogger, an attorney at Ndifuna Ukwazi Law Centre, said the City has done little to drive inclusionary housing, with affordable housing still being developed on the outskirts of the city.
He said the City needed a person at the helm who would make housing redress their responsibility.
“It’s an understatement to say that spatial apartheid is a ‘serious issue’. The private sector has been allowed to run rampant and so we see exorbitant property prices.
“The role of a mayor is key - we need someone to say ‘enough is enough’ or else it will get worse and worse,” Cogger said.
DA leader John Steenhuisen’s office did not respond to request for comment questioning Hill Lewis's ability and experience to address inclusionary housing.
The application for the Milnerton development meanwhile is still in progress and has not yet been assessed, mayco member for Spatial Planning and Environment Marian Nieuwoudt said.
Hill-Lewis’s former partner David Sedgwick, said Hillwick was a private company that was set up to hold the particular property as an investment with the purpose of being able to one day develop a small apartment block.
Hill-Lewis and Sedgwick had also undergone a Municipal Planning Tribunal process where they brought forward a motivation for administrative penalty, which found in their favour, after the previous property owners erected two illegal wendy houses on the premises which they operated as guesthouses.
Cape Times