Activists urge Western Cape Government to release land for affordable housing at CBD parking lot
A municipal parking lot at the Civic Centre in the CBD has been earmarked for affordable housing.
Image: Supplied
The Western Cape Government (WCG) together with Premier Alan Winde’s office said the municipal parking lot at the Civic Centre in the CBD would need to be assessed for space requirements and public service delivery before it can be used for social and affordable housing.
This comes on the back of Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis last week announcing a recommendation made by the City to release the parking lot for an affordable housing development with mixed-use opportunities.
The propsed redevelopment promises long-term benefits, the City said, including: an estimated R230 million sale income and R50 million in annual rates/services revenue; R1.5 billion private sector investment in the CBD; 3 500 job opportunities in construction and related sectors; residential opportunities, including affordable housing; and continued regeneration of the Foreshore precinct.
Housing activist group, Ndifuna Ukwazi, called on the WCG and Winde to release the site for social and affordable housing.
“It reflects growing recognition that well-located public land should be prioritised for affordable housing instead of underutilised parking infrastructure or exclusive private development,” it said.
“We now call on Premier Alan Winde and the Western Cape Government to release these sites for social, affordable, and inclusionary housing.”
In response to the call, Winde’s spokesperson, Regan Thaw, said the decision was in the hands of the WCG.
“The Western Cape Department of Infrastructure assesses the province’s land use needs for various purposes, including housing, according to well-established criteria," he said.
The WCG said in response to NU’s call, that a decision was in the pipeline.
“The Department is currently determining the space requirements in the precinct for public service delivery needs.
"The Western Cape Government launched major inner-city social and affordable housing developments over the last 18 months which includes, the Founders Garden Precinct, the largest inner-city public sector housing development in the CBD, set to yield an estimated 2 630 total units, with approximately 1 476 dedicated to state-subsidised social housing."
It said another is the Leeuloop Precinct, an R918 million high-rise development on Loop Street that will yield an estimated 840 housing opportunities, including approximately 350 allocated for affordable housing and the Prestwich Precinct, a strategic urban hub on a consolidated site between Somerset and Buitengracht Streets, which will yield an estimated 310 total units, prioritising at least 120 units for long-term affordable housing.
Brett Herron, GOOD Party Secretary-General and Member of the Western Cape Legislature, shared that there were still many questions about it becoming a reality: “How many affordable homes are envisaged in the mixed-use development of the Civic Centre parking lot? Will they be for rent or sale? Who will qualify to live in them? When will they be built?”