The City of Cape Town has welcomed the start of the New Woodlands housing project in the Mitchells Plain area which will provide 440 Breaking New Ground (BNG) housing opportunities to Kosovo informal settlement residents and New Woodlands backyarders.

It is part of a large-scale catalytic housing programme that seeks to deliver some 50 000 opportunities in this southern corridor of the metro.

The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements,  Malusi Booi, joined the Western Cape Premier Helen Zille and the Western Cape Human Settlements Minister, Bonginkosi Madikizela, to officially kick off the project on 29 April.

‘It forms part of the greater Southern Corridor Integrated Human Settlement Programme which is expected to deliver approximately 50 000 housing opportunities to residents within the metro over the years to come. Phase 1 of the Southern Corridor housing programme, of which the New Woodlands project forms part, will yield up to 10 000 housing opportunities in the Philippi and Mitchells Plain areas.’

Booi says the City has also set aside some R5 million of additional funds in the new financial year to assist with services for this project.

‘These large-scale catalytic projects are absolutely in line with efforts to bring redress through the delivery of housing opportunities but also to provide tangible solutions to the great need for subsidised accommodation which has been brought on by rapid urbanisation. This trend is set to continue and therefore the large-scale delivery of projects, where all tiers of government work together, is vital. The City also continues to focus on formalising informal settlements as the mere delivery of formal houses will not be sufficient to address the ever-increasing demand for subsidised accommodation. Let’s continue to work together as a society to ensure that we are ready for what the future holds.’