The City’s Council Housing is key to our future! Today, 8 May 2024, the Human Settlements Mayoral Committee Member, Councillor Carl Pophaim, is in Elsies River to launch a new Council housing campaign. The City is taking back council housing by spending more than R1 billion in maintenance and upgrades and also stepping up the safety efforts in Council units and surrounds. Read more below:
‘We want better, safer and more dignified rental communities and we want to do this by boosting investments into the maintenance and upgrades of our units. Our public housing hold the keys to a brighter future.
‘I’m launching a new campaign to drive awareness of our investment into council housing, looking at maintenance and upgrades and encouraging our tenants to report maintenance issues. We’re also asking our tenants and communities to report criminal activity to us and to the South African Police Service (SAPS).
‘We are putting a spotlight on the more than R1bn planned spend over the next few years for maintenance and upgrades, especially staircases. The City has about 45 000 rental units, making us one of the largest landlords in South Africa. Resources are limited so we prioritise urgent maintenance work first. The majority of service requests are related to vandalism. If we could reduce the number of vandalism complaints, we could do so much more with our maintenance budget and free up teams for emergency work.
‘We want to take back public housing and we want your help with that. If tenants have any concerns regarding maintenance at their units and staircases, they are encouraged to please contact us. When we work together we can make a big change and we don’t have to accept things as they stand. We cannot allow the criminals to win. We are Making Progress Possible. Together,' said Councillor Pophaim.
Report suspicious behaviour to the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre on 021 480 7700.
Supplied by: City of Cape Town