New housing opportunities for Bellville

New housing

opportunities for Bellville

The Glenhaven Social Housing Project is one of the latest efforts by the City of Cape Town (CoCT) to provide affordable and social housing opportunities on welllocated land that brings low-income households closer to economic opportunities and facilitates spatial and social integration.

The Glenhaven project comprises 512 social housing opportunities and 253 gap rental housing units.

Located in Bellville, the project is being undertaken in partnership with the nonprofit social housing institution Urban Status Rentals. The CoCT has assisted Urban Status Rentals with all the

Cllr Malusi Booi visits the Glenhaven Social Housing Project

funding and statutory applications to enable the successful delivery of the housing units.

The city has injected R67 million into the project for the earthworks and internal civil engineering services for the provision of water, sanitation and roads, electricity reticulation, street lighting and the units themselves.

“Urban Status Rental has been successful in delivering good quality units that provide great value to tenants within constrained financial resources,” says Cllr Malusi Booi, MMC for Human Settlements, CoCT.

Construction on the gap rental housing units was completed in February 2019 and these units are already tenanted. The CoCT’s gap housing market is made up of households that earn between R3 501 and R22 000 per month and do not qualify for a full housing subsidy.

The completion of the social housing units, which was scheduled for April 2020, was delayed due to Covid-19 and the consequent national lockdown. After beginning construction in 2018, these units are expected to be tenanted by the end of this year.

A broader vision

Glenhaven is one of 28 social housing projects located in urban centres across the metro in either the planning or construction phase currently under way by the CoCT and its partners. To date, five social housing projects comprising over 2 000 units have been completed.

In addition to state-subsidised Breaking New Ground projects, the city is increasingly focusing on affordable rental options, enhanced backyarder services provision and the upgrading of informal settlements.

The CoCT “continues to assess city-owned land, including suitable land in and near the Cape Town CBD and other urban centres across the metro, to determine whether some of these properties could be developed for affordable housing opportunities,” says Booi.

He adds that the city has been careful to manage expectations, as transforming the spatial patterns of Cape Town, as is the case across South Africa, will not happen overnight. “The housing economy is a complex sphere that must be approached with a focus on partnerships and innovation, while dealing with great demand and historical legacies of injustice and inequality,” Booi elaborates.

“The city is committed to reversing the legacy of apartheid spatial planning by enabling the creation of affordable and inclusionary housing on well-located land close to public transport and job opportunities. This is part of the focus of enabling opportunities for a wide range of income groupings to respond to the increased demands of urbanisation, which is not a city government mandate alone.”