Cape Town’s current housing crisis has resulted in a near daily occurrence of protests. Communities such as the Bo-Kaap, Scottsdene, Vrygrond and Zwelihle have all protested for government housing in the past few months, causing unrest to spread across the Cape.
The City of Cape Town’s Transport and Urban Development Authority (TDA) has passed a resolution to get the ball rolling in bringing more houses to the residents of the city that need them.
The TDA has now concluded the four contracts that will appoint multi-disciplinary teams to oversee the successful implementation of housing developments across the City’s jurisdiction.
“These teams, one for each of the City’s four areas, will consist of a number of professionals,” said Mayco member for Transport and Urban Development, Brett Herron to News24. “They will oversee and monitor the planning, design, and construction of thousands of housing opportunities across Cape Town.”
“The go-ahead from Council enables the TDA to streamline our planning processes, and thus, to expedite the delivery of housing opportunities,” Herron said. “Given that the contracts are in place for longer than three years, it means we do not need to issue a new tender for the appointment of multi-disciplinary teams for each and every housing project in the medium term. This way, we already have a team of professionals ready in all four areas of the City who can immediately get working a new housing project.”
In the initial stages, the multi-disciplinary teams will work on at least 12 housing development across Cape Town. These developments will provide for approximately 13 000 housing opportunities, and will total an investment of R184-million.
“They will also get working on new projects as these are approved and budgeted for,” Herron added. “The housing opportunities will become available within the next two to three years, depending on the type of development and the area where the development is taking place.”
These developments will include rental accommodation, free-standing housing units and double-storer units just to name a few.
“Where required, the developments will include community facilities, open spaces where residents can socialise, and commercial and retail opportunities.”
The contracts will use funding from the Urban Settlements Development Grant, as well as funds from the Housing Development Capital Fund.
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