In October 2020, the City of Cape Town’s Public Housing Department officially launched its new maintenance and repair initiative where small and medium-size contractors are primarily focusing on fixing its affordable housing units that have been affected by fire. General maintenance work and repairs, largely as a result of vandalism, are also being done. The partnership with the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC) is not only addressing the service request backlogs caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, but has provided work opportunities for small to medium-sized contractors and suppliers.
Yesterday, 15 September 2021, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Malusi Booi, City Public Housing officials and representatives of the National Housing Finance Corporation visited a Community Residential Unit in 38 Amandel Road, Bonteheuwel to look at the repair and maintenance work that is being carried out. Thus far, 104 repair and maintenance service requests to units across the metro have been completed and more than 200 service requests are currently in progress.
‘The City continues to look at ways to streamline processes so that we can deal with the backlog in maintenance and repair work at our rental stock. We are pleased to see that contractors are making steady progress despite the numerous challenges they have faced, and we will continue to do all we can so that we improve the lives and living conditions of our residents.
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‘The new R150 million initiative over the next three years will not only enhance necessary and important maintenance and repairs to the affordable rental units across the metro, but also to empower small and medium-size contractors by giving them the opportunity to do the work.
‘The City has approximately 57 000 public housing rental units, which provides homes to more than 228 000 residents. The City thanks residents for their patience and understanding while this project continues. Importantly, poor payment by tenants have a ripple effect on maintenance and upgrades. The City uses rental income for maintenance and non-payment has an impact on service delivery. We encourage our tenants to see if they qualify for the City’s R4,1 billion debt write-off incentive of historic debt or to approach us for indigent support and a payment arrangement. If we can increase the payment rate, we can increase the maintenance and upgrades,’ said Councillor Booi.
By far the most service requests are vandalism-related
The City’s Public Housing Department has spent more than R24 million since June 2019 in vandalism-related repair work at its CRUs. This severely drains the maintenance budget. These maintenance costs are one of the biggest reasons why normal maintenance is often delayed at these units.
Log a service request:
• Human Settlements Directorate’s Call Centre: 021 444 0333
• Email: MyEstate@capetown.gov.za
