Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee has greenlit the release of 7 ha of land for a mixed-use development in Rondebosch East, roughly 10 km from the city centre.

The committee will now seek council approval to start with a public participation process for the proposed sale of the city-owned land.

The land has a potential yield of 800 residential units within a mixed-use development, including affordable housing, open market housing, public open space, and retail opportunities.

The site is currently made up of several vacant erven with a desktop valuation of R155-million, with city guidelines enabling discounting the land-sale price to aid developers maximise the affordable housing yield.

The proposed sale will include a clause that must see the development include an affordable housing component.

If not, the properties will revert back to the City of Cape Town (CoCT).

To prepare for the release, the land parcels will undergo a rezoning process.

“These Rondebosch East erven are among the many exciting sites within our affordable housing land release priority portfolio,” says CoCT Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.

“In the first two years of this programme, we have already released sites with a yield of over 4 200 affordable housing units, including in Cape Town’s inner city and other well-located economic nodes.”

Human Settlements MMC Carl Pophaim says the city’s affordable housing pipeline includes land parcels expected to deliver more than 12 000 residential opportunities across the metro in future, prioritising mixed market development “in a bid to create integrated communities and sustainable human settlements”.

“Providing affordable housing in strategically located areas can significantly transform the livelihood of qualifying households who earn less than R22 000 a month.

“Thousands of families are already tenanted at various developments around the metro, including Maitland Mews, Bothasig Gardens, Goodwood Station and the Western Cape government’s Conradie Park development in Pinelands.”

CoCT says it continues to engage national government on the release of some of its well-located mega-properties in Cape Town, with an estimated yield of around 100 000 affordable housing units, including several military bases and portions of the Parliamentary Village.