Low-income earners find liveable, affordable homes in city centre

The City of Johannesburg, through its social housing entity Joshco, is buying old and dilapidated buildings in the city centre and converting them into affordable flats catering for the low-cost rental market.

Yesterday, Joshco officially unveiled Europa House in Plein Street.

The 10-storey building was previously used as an office block but has since been converted into 168 communal rooms at a total cost of R10-million.

Tenants will pay rent of between R840 and R1540 a month, depending on the size of the room.

Each floor has male and female bathrooms and a communal kitchen.

There is also 24-hour security.

Joshco CEO Rory Gallocher said the company would spend another R107-million on purchasing and converting inner city building into rental stock.

"Because we are serving the lower-end of the market, the buildings have to be affordable ... We have lost some buildings because we could not agree on the price and we cannot overpay.

"There is also a lot of competition for these buildings. It is not easy to identify and reach an easy agreement on the purchase of the buildings that are suitable," Gallocher said.

The housing shortage in Gauteng is a serious problem for the provincial government and municipalities.

Gallocher said buildings in the Johannesburg inner city provided convenience for tenants as they were located closer to places of work, transport facilities and amenities such as libraries and parks.

"You could potentially put 10000 more units into the inner city and all of them would be rented out."

Converting buildings into rental units is cheaper than constructing houses from scratch.

Johannesburg member of the mayoral committee for housing Dan Bovu said: "What we ultimately want to see is an inner city that provides a variety of business and recreational [services]. Bit by bit we are taking the buildings back, using every legal option available to us."