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New Sea Point skyscraper to include affordable housing

14 Mar 2019

Cape Town's Municipal Planning Tribunal has approved a proposal for a skyscraper that would include affordable housing in Sea Point. If the development proceeds, this will be the first development in decades to include affordable housing in the seaside suburb.

Protest against evictions in Sea Point in 2016. Archive photo: Ashraf Hendricks

Named “The Fulcrum”, the 60m high residential building will reserve 28 of its 144 apartments for households earning under R18,000 a month to rent.

According to social justice movement Ndifuna Ukwazi (NU), the City of Cape Town’s team argued against the proposal by the Berman Brothers group because of the height of the building. The Sea Point Ratepayers’ Association opposed the proposal for the same reason.

Ndifuna Ukwazi argued against the city’s stance, saying that Cape Town “requires dense, high-rise, and inclusive buildings across well-located areas to provide for affordable housing and to address spatial inequality".

Jared Rossouw of NU said that he understood the concerns of local residents but “this decision is not just about this building, but the cumulative impact of buildings like this over the coming decades”. In order to build a sustainable and efficient city “we need the city to promote radical densification in every well-located area”, he said.

Marian Nieuwoudt, the city’s mayoral committee member for spatial planning and environment, had no further comment at this stage.

Article originally published on GroundUp.