The Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Housing, Cllr Mlungisi Mabaso, turned the sod for the Long Street Social Housing project on Tuesday, December 15 2020, to officially kick-start the construction of a R1.6 billion social housing project led by Johannesburg Social Housing Company (JOSHCO).
The project is aimed at responding to the need for decent and affordable residential units in the inner city.
MMC Mabaso was joined by his counterparts in the Mayoral Committee, MMC for Finance Cllr Jolidee Matongo and MMC for Environment, Infrastructure and Services Cllr Mpho Moerane.
The development is located at Extension 38 along the mining belt on Main Road in Jeppestown. The housing stock will consist of one-bedroom and two-bedroom communal rental units. This will entail the construction of 1 336 units of four-storey walk-up blocks to accommodate mixed-income households with gross income ranging from R3 500 to R15 000 per household a month.
The objective of such projects is to address housing demand and promote the establishment of well-managed, quality rental option for the residents.
Speaking at a sod-turning event, MMC Mabaso said this development in Jeppestown is the beginning of a new era.
“It gives me a great pleasure to be amongst you today to officiate the beginning of what will go down in history as a mega project that was initiated in my time.
“The development in Jeppestown is part of the City’s turnkey projects, which aims to address the lack of affordable housing in the city. Today’s event is our humble contribution to the people of Johannesburg and changing people’s lives for the better.
He pleaded with residents to own and protect this project. “With this kind of investment, we are projecting that thousands of job opportunities will be created and, in this project, alone a minimum of R67 million will be set aside for local SMMEs,” said Mabaso.
The MMC also gave a commitment that other areas within the City of Joburg have been identified and will also benefit from this 1.6 billion that has been set aside for mega projects.
“We will continue to launch affordable Social Housing Projects of this nature even in the up-market communities as we are going to launch other Mega Projects in other parts of the City namely Rivonia/Sandton; Diepsloot and Midrand in the coming year. Days of segregating people on their economic status are slowly coming to an end,” said MMC Mabaso.
In the next few months, JOSHCO will launch the first student accommodation with 193 beds.
JOSHCO was established in March 2004 to help eradicate the housing backlog among the city’s low-income earners. The social entity has a housing stock of more than 6 800 units in its portfolio.
