The City of Cape Town visited to Heideveld with the team of Housing the City Tour: Bringing Your Home and took housing services directly into the community. They handed over 65 title deeds to the deserving homeowners. They also visited the City rental flats where repairs and upgrades were under way.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Human Settlements – Councillor Carl Pophaim stated that Housing the City Tour team aims to take government and delivery directly to the residents. By this they meant helping residents of Heideveld with housing applications and official services. The team also promised to handover title deeds to 65 families with their homes and see first-hand repair and maintenance work in the Community Residential Units.
This is much more than just receiving a document for those 65 families who received the title deeds. As title deed officially provides the security services ensuring that it is legally yours. It an asset for the families to be passed on from one generation to another and is an important part of restoring their dignity through homeownership.
According to Pophaim the Human Settlements teams have assisted residents with affordable housing applications, rental housing matters, consumer education and other important housing related services; all at once and that only in their own community.
He said that they visited the Community Residential Units too to supervise the ongoing repairment and upgradation work. The renovation work includes:
- Replacement of external doors
- Plumbing and carpentry repairs
- Roof and ceiling maintenance
- Plastering and repairing of walls
Therefore, Cape Town has built a significant portfolio of ageing public housing infrastructure and there is still so much work to initiate. For all these improvement works the City of Cape Town has set a budget of R1.2 billion for the next three financial years, which will include the upgradation and maintenance of the Council flats. Along with this the city team is investing, repairing and improving these homes progressively one by one for different communities.
Cllr Carl Pophaim expressed that Housing the City Tour is not a simple project, it’s all about showing up, getting the work done and bringing the delivery closer to the residents. The team anticipated to take this initiative beyond the Cape Town. They desire to listen to the communities, would like to resolve the housing matters and ensure that the residents get the work done in their neighbourhoods.
MMC for Human Settlements thanked the Heideveld community and the City of Cape Town officials for engaging with them and making this visit possible with their work. He assured them the team will soon bring the housing services with their home closer to the Capetonians.
Notably, the City housing project selected the beneficiaries who are eligible for the Housing Allocation Policy and Housing Needs Register. The officials promised them that the fair and transparent housing opportunities will be available, especially to the people who will qualify under South African Law.