- The City of Cape Town has released land for 400 new affordable housing units in Belhar as part of its accelerated land release programme.
- This project is part of a broader initiative to address the housing needs of families across Cape Town.
- Local Ward Councillor Desmond Jaftha praised the development, noting the community’s long-standing hope for better housing options close to essential amenities.
Residents of Belhar welcomed the City of Cape Town’s release of properties that will add 400 new affordable housing units.
The City announced last week that five more properties totalling 1 300 housing units will be released across the city. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said in his address to council last week this would be a game changer for families in need of well-located affordable rental housing.
“Efforts to enable affordable housing opportunities are under way on well-located land across the metro, with the City’s pipeline now standing at over 12 000 affordable units,” says Hill-Lewis.
400
The properties are located in Lansdowne (308 units), Ottery (375), Brackenfell (145), Wesfleur (116), and Belhar (400), with the land release following the completion of public participation in these areas.
In under two years, various municipal-owned properties – with a yield of over 4 200 units – have already been released as part of the Mayoral Priority Programme for accelerated land release for affordable housing. Overall, the City has some 12 000 affordable units in the pipeline.
“Bit by bit, property by property, we are changing the affordable housing picture in Cape Town. Each of these developments might seem relatively small on their own compared to the pressing overall need. But take a step back and look at the full scale of our affordable housing pipeline, and you will see that housing in our city is undergoing a transformation.
“These properties will deliver more than just nice new homes for Cape Town families. It’s about the potential that this home has to change your path in life, to let you build something for your family, to give your children a better opportunity to make the most of their own lives. And we want to do this for thousands more Cape Town families,” said Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.
The property in Belhar will be developed for single residential gap housing units. Both the Wesfleur and the Belhar properties are in established residential areas, close to schools, churches and transport corridors, and are ideally situated for gap housing developments, which is housing aimed at people who fall in that income gap of not earning enough to qualify for a home loan, but earning too much to qualify for housing subsidies.
“As is the case with all our other affordable housing projects, we will discount all these parcels of land to the housing developer in exchange for the optimal yield of social and gap housing units under our newly developed guidelines for land release. The affordable housing developments that we are enabling add real value to neighbourhoods and in many cases, invigorates and revitalises areas due to the investment,” said the Mayco member for human settlements Carl Pophaim.
Longing for years
Desmond Jaftha, local Ward councillor, says the community welcomes the new developments. “Residents have been longing for years to live in decent housing close to where they work or attend school. This is a major development and I am sure I speak for most of Belhar when I say we welcome the units,” says Jaftha.
