This morning, 05 March 2019, I had the pleasure of launching two more affordable housing projects for our residents in the Johannesburg inner-city.
I am very proud of the work being done by the City of Joburg’s social housing entity (JOSHCO) in delivering these two particular projects – with many more to come.
These two are the Albert Street project (located at 133 Albert Street) and the Fraser House transitional housing project (located at 60 Macintyre Street).
The two housing projects, which have a combined cost of over R96 million, will contribute to our inner-city revitalisation initiative through the conversion of a number of dilapidated buildings into habitable mixed-sized residential units.
Albert Street consists of ‘1 Bedroom’, ‘Studio’ and ‘Communal Room’-type units totalling 83 residential units. It also has features such as courtyard, drying yards, children’s play area and a braai area.
Fraser House, meanwhile, will be used as transitional housing, and will offer temporary housing for the homeless and some working homeless who earn an insufficient income to afford long-term housing. This model is set up to assist residents to transition into permanent, affordable housing. The occupants will share communal bathrooms and kitchen on each floor.
Our city faces a mammoth task of clearing the current housing backlog of over 300 000 units, and as I have said on numerous occasions now, this administration is fully committed to turning the inner-city into a construction site in order for us to deliver sufficient and affordable quality accommodation to all our residents.
Towards the end of January, I was joined by City Manager Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni, Economic Development MMC Leah Knott, Development Planning MMC Reuben Masango, Johannesburg Property Company CEO, Helen Botes, and other critical stakeholders, where we visited the Vannin Court and Beaconsfield Court developments, and vacant land at 82 Gwigwi Mwrebi Street, Newtown. These three projects were awarded to two developers; EGC Properties and Johannesburg Housing Company, respectively. They formed part of the 84 inner-city buildings earmarked for development, as was announced last year. Many more buildings have been identified for redevelopment and will be announced in the near future.
Each time we launch new housing projects feels like a first. It is a proud moment for us all – the City, and its partners. This also explains why these launches feel celebratory for us – it means we see more of our people living in safe and affordable housing. It is also critical that these families live in areas where they can access schooling and employment opportunities.
Just last month, Council adopted the Inclusionary Housing: Incentives, Regulations and Mechanisms Framework. This is an important step as the City seeks to address the spatial inequality associated with apartheid-era development planning. The Framework requires and incentivizes private developers to dedicate 30% of new residential developments to affordable housing.
This seeks to ensure that densities are increased in a manner that facilitates the co-existence of people belonging to varied income profiles.
The densification process will be implemented in and around current nodes, as well as the new ‘general urban zone’ in areas like Orlando East in Soweto.
The need for an Inclusionary Housing Framework was identified in the City’s Spatial Development Framework 2040 (SDF 2040) adopted by Council in 2016. Specifically it identified the need to facilitate and guide the provision of inclusionary housing by the private sector in private housing developments.
The SDF 2040 highlights the issue of the housing and job mismatch in the City with a large portion of the population in the City concentrated in areas of limited or no employment opportunity. It further advocates for densification in areas of favourable employment which in turn happen to be the areas the City has invested heavily in.
The adoption of the Inclusionary Housing Framework affirms the commitment of the multi-party government to building an inclusive society that provides meaningful redress through pro-poor development.
Cllr Herman Mashaba
Executive Mayor
City of Joburg
For media queries, please contact:
Andile Ndlovu
Media Specialist: Office of the Executive Mayor
Email: andilend@joburg.org.za
Call: 081 417 1871 OR 011 407 7334
OR
Nthabiseng Mphela
Marketing and Communication Manager: Johannesburg Social Housing Company (SOC) – JOSHCO
Call: 011 406 7308 or 072 584 4562
E-mail: nthabisengm@joshco.co.za
Website: www.joshco.co.za
