Tenants are currently moving into the City of Cape Town’s well-located Maitland Mews social housing development in central Cape Town. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis handed over keys to some of the elated new tenants on Thursday, 11 May 2023. Attendees included National Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, Western Cape Government’s Human Settlements Minister Tertuis Simmers, Acting Mayoral Committee member for Human Settlements, Alderman James Vos, and Social Housing Institution Madulammoho. Read more below:
With Maitland Mews now being tenanted, these 204 units represent the completion of roughly 25% of the City’s 800 central Cape Town social housing units which have been handed over to social housing companies for development.
A further 2 500 are in the construction phase elsewhere along the Voortrekker corridor and close to economic nodes. City-wide, there are 6 500 social housing opportunities in the pipeline across 50 land parcels.
‘Very few things have the ability to transform lives the way dignified housing can. To have a place you can call home that is both safe and beautiful, and in the case of Maitland Mews, also well-located and affordable, is something too many South Africans have only dreamt of.
‘Our country’s unfair and brutal history made those dreams seem almost unattainable for millions. But as we can see today, that doesn’t have to be the case. Project by project, unit by unit, we can deliver more and more affordable housing options to Capetonians so that they are able to live lives of dignity and value.
‘The future of housing is about the enabling state, where government avails land and subsidies to let the private sector get on with the business of affordable housing delivery. My thanks goes to the national and provincial governments for their help to access the necessary grant funding for this project, and to our social housing partner, Madulammoho, who will be operating the development,’ said Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.
‘The City is working to sustain momentum and move more of its properties into the construction phase for social housing. In the first five months of our Mayoral Priority Programme for Accelerated Land Release, five inner-City land parcels with a planned total of over 1 300 housing units reached critical land release milestones. More exciting milestones will be reached in the coming months,’ said Alderman James Vos, Acting Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements.
‘It is such a joy to see a project like Maitland Mews being launched and to see tenants moving in. Every tenant gets workshopped to fully understand their roles and responsibilities and as we do this we can see the excitement of the tenants to move to a well located, safe and secure property they can call home. Many tenants come from very bad living conditions and have had to travel long distances to get to work. Now they can simply walk to work, save money and spend more time with their families. At Maitland Mews, we have 24-hour security with cleaning, maintenance and management on site,’ said Renier Erasmus from the social housing company Madulammoho.
About Maitland Mews
Maitland Mews, operated by social housing company Madulammoho, provides social housing rental opportunities to 204 residents and their families. This forms part of a broader precinct development of more than 1 000 affordable housing units.
The development is well-located on Voortrekker Road in central Cape Town – one of the city’s most important transport corridors.
Tenants will live close to the MyCiti bus service, with only a few kilometres in any direction to major shopping malls, industrial areas, universities and the economic opportunities of the Cape Town CBD.
Residents will also have access to a range of schools, a library, a police station and many places of worship.
Funding was made available through the Consolidated Capital Grant from the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA), loan finance from the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC), equity from Madulammoho and a discounted land price from the City.
Social Housing policy, set nationally, targets households with gross monthly incomes ranging from R1 850 to R22 000. SHRA recently estimated average monthly rentals of R722 – R6 475 for these projects, depending on household income.
Facts about social housing:
- It is managed by accredited social housing institutions (SHIs).
- SHIs are solely dependent on rental income. They receive no operational grants. They are able to service their debt finance through rental income.
- As with any rental contract, tenants formally enter into lease agreements. The landlord is the SHI.
- If tenants do not adhere to their lease agreements, the responsible SHI will follow the necessary legal process. Tenants must therefore pay to stay as the rental money is used for the day-to-day operation and upkeep of the complex.
- The City has nothing to do with the day-to-day management of SHIs, the rental amount or evictions for not paying.
- Before potential beneficiaries can apply for social housing, they are required to register on the City’s Housing Needs Register.
- Projects are developed on well-located, accessible land in and near urban centres.
- It is not low-income subsidised government housing, such as Breaking New Ground (or the commonly called RDP housing and it is not City Council Rental Units).
- It is managed with 24-hour security and access control.
- The City may sell City-owned land at a discounted price for social housing developments to make projects financially feasible.
- Social housing offers improved access to social facilities and other amenities.
- Social housing adds value to vacant pieces of land.
- Social housing has the potential to improve property values in an area.
For more information and to apply:
https://www.capetown.gov.za/City-Connect/Apply/City-housing-and-properties/Housing-opportunities/Apply-for-social-housing and https://www.mh.org.za/