In a move to make affordable housing more accessible, the Cape Town Council has given the green light to the release of the Pickwick Road site in Salt River for social housing development. The mayor said the decision is a milestone in delivering on the City’s pledge for affordable housing.
On 26 October, Mayor Hill-Lewis told the Cape Town Council that the City’s Pickwick property will deliver 1 800 units in the inner city suburb of Salt River, including 840 social rental units for families earning less than R22 000 per month and on-site amenities such as a crèche, playgrounds, a clubhouse and a swimming pool.
A prime location for affordable housing
The Pickwick Road site is located near the Central Business District (CBD), public transportation and major access roads. Covering a land area of 3.2 hectares, the site is projected to offer around 1 800 residential opportunities.
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The development will feature 840 social housing units and 960 open-market units, exceeding the initial forecast of 600 social housing units.
According to Mayor Hill-Lewis, affordable rentals are a ‘game changer’ for families with a combined monthly income of less than R22 000.
‘I am truly excited about this land being turned into beautiful, affordable homes for thousands of Capetonians,’ he said.
Mayoral Priority Programme
The Pickwick site marks the latest release under Cape Town’s Mayoral Priority Programme, which has achieved various milestones over the past year, resulting in more than 2 200 social housing units across seven parcels of land, primarily in Cape Town’s inner city.
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Councillor Carl Pophaim, Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, revealed that the City has more than 6 500 social housing units in the works across 50 land parcels city-wide. Developments like the 1 000-unit Goodwood Station and the 204-unit Maitland Mews are already in the tenanting phase.
Advocacy against budget cuts
During the address, Mayor Hill-Lewis took the opportunity to voice his opposition to expected nationwide cuts to housing grants, as indicated in Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s upcoming Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement.
The mayor criticised these cuts as ‘anti-poor’ and called on the national government to reconsider its decisions.
‘Expenditure that is aimed directly at improving the lives of the poor, upgrading services in informal settlements, delivering housing or building essential infrastructure should be protected at all costs,’ Mayor Hill-Lewis said, citing that Cape Town is on the verge of becoming South Africa’s most populous city and needs an increased, not decreased, equitable share of the national budget.
An appeal to national leaders
Mayor Hill-Lewis called on both the finance minister and the president to reflect on their upcoming decisions, emphasising that there is an ‘imminent opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to building the kind of South Africa that we are trying to build here in Cape Town – progressive, pro-poor and pro-growth.’
Read the full council speech here.
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Picture: City of Cape Town