Western Cape Minister of Human Settlements Tertuis Simmers says, addressing the apartheid spatial planning legacy is a Provincial imperative and as such well-located affordable housing has been designated as a priority.
This is particularly true for the various social housing projects that are currently underway across the Western Cape. Chief among these are the Conradie Better Living Model Exemplar Project (“BLMEP”) in Pinelands, and the Pine Road project in Woodstock, which are both close to the CBD.
Minister Simmers said: “Since taking office I committed to an integrated approach to human settlements. This, along with our radical acceleration of housing opportunities still remains. This is demonstrated with the 132 qualifying and deserving beneficiaries, who during the month of August, moved into their brand-new homes in Forest Village. We are in the process of ensuring that our people live together in various areas, regardless of status, creed, income, culture, language and or sexual orientation. We will not and have no intention of diverting from this agenda.”
The Conradie development, which is currently under construction represents a well-located, affordable, integrated, residentially led, mixed-income and mixed-use development that optimises urban land use. It also incorporates subsidised housing products for households earning between R1500 up to R22 000 per month and open market housing products.
Furthermore, it includes public service amenities, schooling, retail, commercial and service industry. The project will yield 1 236 Social Rental housing opportunities. The first phase of 432 units is in construction. Internal services have been completed and unit construction will commence later this month. It is anticipated that the first units will be tenanted in July 2021.
In addition to this, we also have our Pine Road social housing project in Woodstock, where a total of 243 units are expected. The intention was to have gone on-site in the latter part of this month, but due to covid delays, this will occur towards the end of January 2021.
Minister Simmers added: “I’m looking forward to visiting these and other social housing projects in due course. As the Western Cape Government, we remain committed to accelerating human settlement delivery, while promoting social inclusion through the development of integrated, resilient, safe and sustainable human settlements in an open opportunity society.”