Not all in favour of affordable housing on site
The City’s intention to sell more than four hectares of prime land spanning Green Point and Sea Point was discussed at a public online meeting attended by about 100 people on Wednesday evening (7 May).
Last month, it was reported that the City was to auction land, with an estimated value of R680-million, for mixed-use development, including affordable housing.
The first public engagement on the proposed sale on Wednesday was chaired by subcouncil chair Matthew Kempthorne who said the site was a “high-value capital asset” and could address some of the city’s social and economic challenges “in the medium term”.
Kempthorne said the project team was seeking input from the public to “inform land use proposals” during the mandatory public participation process.
Lance Boyd, a development manager in the City’s Property Development Department, said the city’s population was estimated to grow by about 1.7 million people over the next 15 years, putting significant pressure on the need for new houses and apartments.
City-appointed town planner Anine Trümpelmann, said impact analysis of proposed development of the site would have to take place for services such as stormwater and other engineering services.
Trümpelmann said the City was “aware of the current issues” with the Green Point sewer outfall
releasing millions of litres of raw sewage directly into the ocean every day. She said the City would investigate how to address or reduce the impact of the outfall.
She said the site has been identified in the district plan as one of the important new development areas, which “encourages the team to also investigate a range of housing options, focusing also on how affordable housing can be incorporated”.
She said affordable housing does not necessarily have to be subsidised. “It could also be provided by the open market.”
There were a number of questions from the public after the City’s presentation.
Buhle Booi, from housing advocacy group Ndifuna Ukwazi, said they welcomed housing at the site but stressed affordable housing needed to be truly affordable. “I’m worried about the emphasis in this meeting being only (about) the middle class. The City has a responsibility to build an inclusive city,” said Booi, who mentioned the City’s affordable housing policy, althouigh years in the making, was still not released.
Atlantic seaboard resident Trevor Sachs said he saw social housing development at the site “as the first prize”.
Social housing caters to households earning between R1 850 – R22 000 per month. The development and management of Social Housing is undertaken by accredited Social Housing Institutions (SHIs) or Other Delivery Agents (ODAs).
“If the city is to make this open market affordable housing, as you mentioned a couple of times, what mechanism is the city going to use to incentivise the development of social housing,” he asked.
Resident John Witter was less in favour of affordable housing on the site, arguing rather that the City should get the maximum money from the land and use some of it to develop affordable housing elsewhere.
“If one does start putting affordable housing in the area, it could result in a dilution in the value of the surrounding properties, which again would reduce the rateable value to the city and reduce the rates income to the city,” said Witter.
In response, Kempthorne said: “The site is extremely valuable as the economic report has shown, but the City also needs to make space for less affluent members of the community, particularly your policemen, teachers, and nurses. It is part of the City’s policy to build an inclusive city, but this is the beginning of the process.”
He said housing in South Africa was extremely expensive. “The only way we can build social housing is with a cross-subsidization model. How that ends up happening on the site will be guided over this process over the next couple of years.”
He reiterated that this was the beginning of what would be a long process.
There is an Open Day planned for 14 May in Green Point. The statutory public participation process is set for later this year.