Inner Cities And Slums Facing Major Development In South Africa
Category Advice
One of the main reasons why the CBD of Johannesburg and its surrounding regions such as Berea, Yeoville, Braamfontein, and Hillbrow, are being developed so much is because of the increasing interest of the property developers. The city rents of investment property in these areas have been going up thanks to the growing demand of the tenants according to an inner city report. Some of the unique bachelor flats in the area are priced at below R2000 a month with the 3 bedroom units being priced at R3000. There is a high demand but the rate of progress is low which means there is a crunch as far as availability of the spaces is concerned.
There is a higher rate of competition as far as the units are concerned with a shortage of 3 bedroom units. The 2 beds are also being demanded for purposes of shared accommodation. Single bed units are the want of young professionals and couples. An estate agency has been created to handle sales. The city authorities recognize the fact that there are miscellaneous kinds of residential and housing related requirements which are being catered to fulfill the needs of the inner city.
The focus is now on the mixed income development groups which definitely seem to play a positive function as far as the question of urban regeneration such as the Brickfields estate which is located in Newtown is concerned. This had been a JHC Johannesburg Housing Company project. With little land being available for the development of the green field, the focus has now been shifted to concentrate on the brown fields with initiatives such as BBP or Better Buildings Programme taken up for freeing distressed properties for re-development plans. Yakoob Magda, the director of the inner city believes that Johannesburg and its inner parts can never be termed as the space for the poor or the rich.
The high-density neighbourhoods of Johannesburg having been gentrified, areas like Berea and Hillbrow now act as a threat to the city based poor. The CBD is aimed to focus on effective urban management and continuity to look into and take care of all the aspects like improvising the infrastructure of the land, by-law enforcement and even maintaining of the environment of the city. Tackling of the urban areas have been undertaken in the recent past and that too with successful results. This has initiated the participation of various sectors of investors. The ICTF or Inner City Task Force of Johannesburg has put pressure on owners of property for closure of around 150 slums.
This is work that has been done through issuing of notices, fining the residents and in extreme situations taking legal action. That means that in case of small infringements, action has been rapidly undertaken to remedy the situation. As far as Hillbrow is concerned, dilapidated blocks are being taken over by the investors for converting into housing properties.
Author: IMAGINE Properties