The City of Cape Town announced the release of its New Market Street property for social housing development following the City Council’s approval today, 25 May 2023.
Also read: Tenants move into the Maitland Mews social housing development
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced that the 10 300 square metre property, located on the outskirts of Cape Town’s CBD in Woodstock, will be developed to include 200 social housing units and over 300 gap and market housing units.
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The City will implement guidelines to optimise the provision of social housing on the properties it releases, aiming to maximise the number of available social housing units.
‘New Market Street is close to all the amenities one could possibly hope for in central Cape Town. While the original feasibility study foresaw 165 social units in a mixed-use development, we have rezoned the property to maximise its development capacity, allowing us to increase the social housing yield to 200 units. This will be cross-subsidised by retail space, and over 300 gap and market rental units.’
‘We pledged faster land release for more affordable housing, and in the year this priority project has been running, we have delivered five inner city land parcels, totalling over 1 300 social housing units, through this Council,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
The list of properties reaching critical land release milestones under the Mayoral Priority Programme for Affordable Housing Land Release includes:
- Newmarket Street (Woodstock) – 200 social housing units
- Salt River Market (Woodstock) – 215
- Pickwick (Salt River) – 600
- Fruit & Veg (CBD) – 150
- Earl Street (Woodstock) – 160
According to Mayor Hill-Lewis, the future of affordable housing lies in private sector involvement, with the state playing an enabling role through subsidies, bulk services and discounted land for viable affordable housing development.
‘Put simply, the City discounts land we release to enable social housing institutions and private developers to run viable projects. Projects generally need to be mixed-use to be viable, with some retail space and market residential units cross-subsidising the social housing units on the site,’ said the mayor.
Earlier in May, tenants started to move into the City’s well-located 204-unit Maitland Mews social housing development.
‘It was a pleasure to have the National Minister of Human Settlements, most of the 9 provincial housing MECs, and several of the MayCo members from other Metros there to see the project and welcome the first tenants.’
‘We look forward to welcoming many more residents to affordable social housing units in future as our land release programme builds momentum,’ said the mayor.
Land release guidelines to maximise social housing
The City Council’s agenda also included guidelines for the discounting of public land to help maximise the number of affordable housing units on the land it releases.
‘In the past, many of the City’s land release efforts have been stalled by a lack of clear, institutionalised guidelines for how to discount our land for social and affordable housing.’
‘With these path-breaking guidelines, we are enabling accelerated city land release for more affordable housing, in line with our pledge. The guidelines will provide market clarity on what factors the City will consider in discounting the land we release.’
‘Our clear purpose in releasing land for affordable housing is not to maximise the City’s gain from the land sale. Rather, the purpose is squarely and explicitly to maximise the number of affordable units delivered.’
‘This will guide our any decision on land release and, importantly, do so legally and constitutionally,’ concluded Mayor Hill-Lewis.
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