August 2, 2007
By Ndaba Dlamini
MORE than 11 000 families living in informal settlements will have decent roofs over their heads in the next three years, thanks to the Johannesburg Social Housing Company (Joshco), a City of Johannesburg-owned company that provides affordable rental houses for the poor.
It was involved in six social housing projects in the city that would yield 11 652 units at a cost of R468,5-milion, according to the chairperson, Ishmael Mkhabela. Speaking at a luncheon on Wednesday, 1 August to celebrate the company's success, Mkhabela said Joshco had invested R60-million in affordable housing in 2006.
"Today we wish to pause briefly, together with all our stakeholders, funders and partners, pause to reflect on the progress so far since the City gave us this mandate [to develop and manage affordable rental stock] three years ago, in March 2004. We hope that this progress is a cause for celebration and that it confirms to all parties that Joshco is on the right track."
Children at play in Bellavista, Turffontein West
Since its establishment, Joshco has provided accommodation for 3 400 households - homes it has either built from scratch or renovated and secured through the City of Johannesburg. The most celebrated projects are Brickfields in the inner city and the Kliptown housing project in Soweto.
Funding options
According to Mkhabela, Joshco provided affordable and quality housing through provisional subsidies, grant funding and loan funding. The company has a mandate to develop mixed-density, low-cost housing units targeted at households earning between R1 500 and R7 500 a month. It also manages and refurbishes housing stock, including public and staff hotels transferred to it by the City.
Speaking at the luncheon, Executive Mayor Amos Masondo said the city was faced with the problem of in-migration. Johannesburg was growing at a rate of three to 4 percent every year, which would lead to an increase of 3,5 million people in the next 25 years.
"These figures illustrate, in part, some of the challenges facing the City of Johannesburg in its efforts to provide housing and other services."
He said Joshco's projects would bring the City a step closer to attaining its commitment to the concept of sustainable human settlements where people have access to a range of accommodation opportunities.
"One of the factors that makes Joshco a unique institution is that its work cuts across all types of housing products and typologies. In its four years of existence it has been able to respond to the complex challenges of housing and address the needs of various income groups without compromising on quality and innovation."
Current projects
Housing development projects it is busy with include those in Sol Plaatjie, Kliptown, Roodepoort, BG Alexander, City Deep and Bellavista. In Sol Plaatjie, Joshco is building new roads, providing street lighting and facilitating the township's connection to electricity and water. It expects to develop 2 259 units, comprising of double-storey flats converted from existing hostels, new Reconstruction and Development Programme houses and the upgrading of the existing informal settlement.
Tim Potter, the director of the Matheo Group, which is contracted to refurbish and build houses in the township, said the first families had moved into the 140 flats that were already completed, and a further 290 units would be finished "soon". The entire development was expected to be completed in 2009.
Joshco's ability to enter upmarket residential areas successfully and build social housing there is being put to the test in the Roodepoort CBD. Its flagship project here is expected to boost future mixed-income housing developments in the area. Building at the site started in 2006 and the first 42 units will be completed by August. In total 432 rental units will be built.
Construction in Roodepoort
"The Roodepoort housing development addresses the new national policy on sustainable human settlements in that one-and two-bedroom flats will target families earning incomes between R3 500 and R7 500. In this inclusionary development, lower income earners will live side-by-side with more affluent people," said Rory Gallocher, Joshco's chief executive officer.
Kliptown
Across the city, in Kliptown, is one of Joshco's greatest success stories. In 2006, the first tenants moved into its attractive block of flats next to the Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication. In this first phase of the housing development, 500 flats were built. A total of 1 400 units, as well as trading stalls, shops, offices and a community centre are planned for the township.
In its efforts to refurbish slum buildings and provide decent accommodation, Joshco has turned the neglected Bellavista Housing Estate in Turffontein West into a safe and secure home for 3 000 residents.
"Bellavista was a turnaround initiative project for Joshco because of the immense challenges we faced. When Joshco took over the management of the estate in July 2005, Bellavista was seriously neglected and some of its buildings were not humanly habitable," Gallocher said.
The company had invested R8-million in repairing and maintaining the buildings, according to Gallocher. "Two years later, residents of Bellavista enjoy a quality of life like any other citizen in the City of Johannesburg."
BG Alexander
The massive, red-brick BG Alexander building in the heart of Hillbrow is also being renovated, one of 10 bad buildings that Joshco has committed to renovate in the next five years. A former nursing college, BG Alexander was officially vacated in 2001 and was invaded by illegal residents.
In 2006, Joshco took over a building that was crumbling, had illegal electricity connections, broken water pipes and a collapsed sewer system.
Work is under way, converting part of the building into single-room accommodation and the first of the three-phase rejuvenation will be completed by September. In this phase, nearly 230 rooms will be created, with each floor sharing ablution facilities and a kitchen.
In line with Joshco's mandate to integrate communities, the second and third phases of the building's refurbishment will comprise of the construction of one- and two-bedroom self-contained flats, as well as more communal rooms. In total, 469 rental units will be developed.
City Deep
Described as a "quiet revolution", the conversion in City Deep of former hostels into housing stock for low-income families is under way. Located in the southeast of Johannesburg, nearly 800 units will be developed over three years under the City Deep Redevelopment Project.
In the first phase, 123 single- and double-bedroom units were completed last year. The second phase, comprising of more than 200 family units, is nearly finished.
"We intend to give City Deep a comprehensive facelift, converting dormitories which were designed for containment into comfortable living units suitable for families. Not only will the hostel building itself be converted into family units but we will also build new units on vacant land adjacent to the hostel," Gallocher said.
To qualify for social housing, Mkhabela said applicants should be South African citizens, qualify for a state housing subsidy, be registered on the project waiting list and be able to afford rental payments. He encouraged those people who qualified for Joshco's rental accommodation to maintain and care for their homes.
"Joshco believes that through consistently and reliably doing all basic things well, the quality of affordable rental housing in the city will reach acceptable standards. Joshco also believes that through this consistency and dedication to doing things right, these projects will pay their own way, and eventually cease to be a burden on City resources," the chairperson said.
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