Won't take much to fix up nurses' home: housing activists

30 March 2017 - 09:07 By Farren Collins
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
The Helen Bowden Nurses Home has been occupied by Reclaim the City protesters.
The Helen Bowden Nurses Home has been occupied by Reclaim the City protesters.
Image: GroundUp

An audit by activists occupying Helen Bowden Nurses' Home in Green Point found "minimal resources" were needed to ready the building for housing.

They said the building had 201 rooms which could be refurbished in "[minimal] time" for affordable accommodation.

One of the occupants, who is also a supporter of civil group Reclaim the City, said a "quantitative and qualitative audit" had been done of all the rooms, including five kitchens, 27 bathrooms, four large halls and two ironing rooms.

She said that the audit was done by all seven occupiers, some of whom had "experience in social audits and research experience".

"Overall, we were struck by the good quality of the rooms. The bedrooms all have built-in sinks, and many have built in cupboards. They are mostly in a good condition, requiring new lighting, cleaning and in some cases floor repairs."

On Friday, activists took occupancy of Helen Bowden, in protest at the sale of Tafelberg School in Sea Point by the Western Cape government. Another group of five occupied Woodstock Hospital.

Reclaim The City led a campaign to try to prevent the sale of Tafelberg so the site could be used for affordable housing for poor and low-income coloured and black people in the city.

On Tuesday, the City of Cape Town announced plans to declare the city a "restructuring zone".

The city councillor responsible for urban development, Brett Herron, said that there were many affordable housing opportunities in the metro area, but the city could not get access to social housing grants from national government unless the land was located within a restructuring zone.

"As such, we have informed the [government] of our intention to denote the entire city as a restructuring zone," Herron said.

The provincial government supported the move.

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now