[imagesource: Ayanda Ndamane /African News Agency]

The words ‘affordable housing’ and ‘central Cape Town’ aren’t exactly good mates.

Need I remind you of the 0,5-bedroom apartments for sale in Sea Point for more than R1,5 million?

Plans are afoot to offer something that is within reach of citizens who may otherwise never be able to afford to call the city home.

This week, the City of Cape Town announced two housing projects aimed at fast-tracking the release of City-owned land for affordable housing.

News24 reports:

During a full council sitting on Thursday, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced the City planned to release more centrally located land and deliver more affordable housing faster for Capetonians.

“We are speeding up the release of City-owned land for social housing delivery. Already, in the last three months, two parcels of land, which had inched their way through the system, have been shaken loose and brought to council,” he said.

Speak to people who work for the City of Cape Town, as well as members of other parties who aren’t trying to derail any progress in the Western Cape for their own political gain, and you may well hear rave reviews of the job Hill-Lewis is doing to broaden the DA’s appeal beyond its traditional voter base.

Perhaps if other members would stop tweeting he’d be given more credit.

So, about those two sites:

The Salt River Market property [below] was approved for handover to the social housing institution for construction, while the Pickwick Road site proposal was tabled for final in-principle approval for release for social housing.

Image: 2018 Google Maps / File / News24

Together these projects will unlock more than 800 social housing units in Salt River.

The Pickwick Road site can be seen in the image right up at the top of the page.

Maluisi Booi, the mayoral committee member for human settlements, said these projects were aimed at “public servants such as police officers and teachers”.

It’s a step in the right direction and comes just two weeks after more than 100 people marched to some of the sites earmarked for social and affordable housing projects in Woodstock and Salt River.

GroundUp covered that:

“It’s been five years since a plot of land [at Victoria Park in Woodstock] was earmarked for social housing. When will the homes be built?” asked Karen Hendricks, a member of the housing movement, Reclaim the City…

The march, hosted by Reclaim the City and Ndifuna Ukwazi, was to highlight the City of Cape Town’s failure to build affordable housing in well-located areas, as it had promised.

There’s no doubting that progress on this front has been far, far slower than the promises initially made.

In total, 11 sites were earmarked for social housing in 2017 by the City.

[sources:news24&groundup]