Cape Town - More affordable housing opportunities will soon be made available for people who qualify for the social, gap and low-income housing. This will be made possible by a R120 million property sale in the CBD. Added to this will be a concession which will be made available to older Communicare residents who solely rely on social grants for income.
Last week, Social enterprise housing NPC, Communicare sold its head office building on the Foreshore to a foreign buyer who operates in the leisure property market. According to the group, the new owner of the five-storey building has been on the lookout for an ideal location for a five-star boutique hotel for some time.
The building opposite the Cape Town International Convention Center boasts a massive 1294 square meters, five-storeys and a parking lot to accommodate 78 cars.
The site was purchased from the Foschini Group in the late 1980s for R300 000 and construction of the current building was completed in 1991 at a cost of about R10 million at the time. The development was funded by Communicare and the Cape Joint Pension Fund (CJPF) in a joint venture. Communicare, however, bought out CJPF’s 50% share in 2001.
According to Communicare stakeholder relations manager, Michelle Matthee, the proceeds from the sale will be used to fund upcoming housing projects which will see over 1000 people accommodated.
“Communicare is working on the development of more than 1 100 units this year. This includes 138 rental units under construction at Musgrave Villas in Diep River and 314 social housing units at Bothasig Gardens. The mixed-use development planned at Salt River Market is also one of several other developments being planned,” said Matthee.
However, Matthee could not confirm the exact location the head offices would be moving to but told Weekend Argus that they should be in their new office space by the end of September this year. She also confirmed that “we want to be close to the people we service.”
Anthea Houston, the CEO of Communicare, also said “There is no compelling reason for Communicare’s offices to be located in the city centre. It may have been a good idea in the 90s, but its time has passed. I think it’s more appropriate and convenient to locate our office out of the hustle and bustle of the centre of town.”
Currently, the provincial housing backlog is 540 779 with a 2019/20 budget of R2.7 million which will yield 25000 housing opportunities.