By Jonews Reporter
THE Johannesburg City Council approved various projects to reduce the housing backlog and develop poor areas of the city at its monthly sitting this week.
The City approved the establishment of a city-wide social housing institution "to deliver the Presidential Job Summit housing projects and other high-density projects". The new Johannesburg Social Housing Company (Joshco) is a Section 21 Company comprised of the City of Johannesburg, the Gauteng Housing Department, the Social Housing Foundation and the National Housing Finance Corporation. Joshco will be responsible for developing and managing social housing in the city.
Social housing is a departure from the Reconstruction and Development Programme's housing projects. It is a less expensive route for housing the poor because the government pays some of the costs and beneficiaries supply labour for building their homes. Social housing encompasses various structures such as hostels, houses, flats or townhouses and can entail the construction of new units or the refurbishment of existing housing. A community controls and runs these buildings through social housing institutions, like a housing association.
Following approval from Council, various pockets of city-owned land will now be transferred to Joshco for development purposes.
In a related development, four new People's Housing Projects (PHP) are to be undertaken in Vlakfontein Extension, Zandspruit, Rabie Ridge Extension 4 and 5 and Stretford Ext 4, thanks to a funding of R11-million from the Gauteng Housing Department and endorsement from the council.
PHP is part of a new government housing policy which taps into existing community resources to provide housing for the poor. This policy and programme encourages and supports individuals and communities to be actively involved in the construction of their houses by establishing housing cooperatives to build their own houses. The government provides subsidies whilst NGOs and other support organisations offer technical, financial, logistical and administrative assistance to enable beneficiaries to kickstart their projects.
The government is to provide subsidies of between R10 900 and R13 400 for each housing unit, whilst beneficiaries will contribute R2 479. The project will benefit people earning less than R1 500 per month. Altogether, 250 units will be built in each area, bringing the total number of houses to 1 000. According to Phindile Lakaje, programme manager of PHP in the city, sites in these areas have already been serviced and the beneficiaries have title deeds to their property. "The construction of housing units will be the final stage of the development."
The Council also approved a proposal for Turffontein farm in the south to be used as a site of a social housing project. The farm is 50 000mē in size and has the capacity to accommodate 300 housing units.
Meanwhile, the Council threw its weight behind plans to rehabilitate and improve water quality in the Jukskei River in Alexandra. A council survey revealed that the quality of water in the river has been deteriorating as a result of floods, pollution and sediment build-up. "This plan includes finding ways to slow the water flow into the river, especially during rainy seasons, and to create artificial wetland to purify water," said Jane Eagle, the city's Assistant Director responsible for Air and Water Quality Monitoring.
Still in Alexandra, a house in which Nelson Mandela rented a room for three years before he moved to Orlando West in the 1950s is to be transferred to the Alexandra Heritage Trust for conversion into a heritage tourism facility. The Council endorsed a proposal from the heritage trust that the area around the house be declared a heritage conservation area. The development will entail the renovation of the room occupied by Mandela, installation of an audio-visual display in the room and the construction of a visitor information and interpretation center.
