During the month of June, the City of Cape Town’s Public Housing Department was hard at work, renovating its Community Residential Units in the Elsies River area. This R2,6 million project at Chestnut Place in Belhar was just one of several under way across the metro as part of the City’s commitment to improve the lives of residents. Building renovations, including replacing gutters and downpipes, barge and fascia boards, and old roofing, were completed.
The upgrades to the Chestnut Place Community Residential Units (CRUs) include new ceilings and roofing, the installation of new fascia and barge boards, and new gutters and downpipes. This project started in early June 2020.
All City-owned CRUs undergo regular upgrades and maintenance. The City’s Human Settlement Directorate plans to complete more upgrades and maintenance on City rental units across the metro over the weeks and months ahead.
‘Over the coming months, more upgrades and maintenance will take place in Elsies River, Langa and Ravensmead, among others. Further City projects will be announced to members of the public in due course. I am very happy to see that City staff and contractors completed the project ahead of schedule and in time for the harsher winter months,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Malusi Booi.
The rental units are an important part of the affordable residential accommodation which provides homes to some of the most vulnerable residents. The City owns approximately 50 000 rental units that are located across various areas of the metro, making it one of the largest landlords in the country.
‘Apart from emergency and day-to-day maintenance to ensure the safety of our tenants now, we must also increasingly make changes to ensure our units are comfortable homes to our tenants for many more years to come.
‘These programmes are vital and they are expensive. The City therefore is dependent on rental money to help carry maintenance costs and encourages all tenants to please pay what they can to help improve their living conditions.
‘It is so important that our tenants pay their way as we are dependent on rental income to perform our maintenance programmes. There are also those who can afford the rental contribution but refuse to pay. We encourage all of our tenants to pay what they can so that we can roll out more and more of these projects,’ said Councillor Booi.
In the 2019/20 financial year, R172 million was budgeted for overall maintenance of City rental stock.