POLOKO TAU
Jabulani Heights is set to change the face of the Soweto housing landscape.
The groundbreaking new development will have a mall, hospital, theatre, municipal offices, fire station and filling stations.
The three-storey blocks of flats are meant for people who earn too much to qualify for a subsidy and too little to buy a house.
Project funders International Housing Solutions (IHS) released findings of research conducted by property economist and UCT associate professor Francois Viruly that showed a high level of satisfaction among occupants of the new housing product.
Soula Proxenos, managing partner of IHS, said affordable housing was aimed at closing a huge gap in housing that affected “people who can afford to pay but have nothing suitable for them in the market”.
She said they were not only building affordable homes, but were taking into consideration things such as locations close to residents’ workplaces, amenities and access to transport routes.
“The Jabulani project is ideally located near a mall and a theatre as well as other facilities. We also have apartments in Protea Glen that are also close to public transport routes, schools and shops,” she said.
“Our projects are also for people who love living in Soweto, but would still want a feeling similar to those of upmarket apartments in the city close to amenities and also remain close to their families in the township.
“We got the professor (Viruly) to conduct research recently to test if we were indeed meeting every aspect of what will satisfy residents, developers as well as our investors.”
Viruly said his research also looked at how many jobs were created through affordable housing projects.
The IHS said its products were designed to “ensure healthy, integrated communities rather than just to provide dwellings”.
Viruly’s research showed that “over 70 percent of respondents said by moving into the these houses they become healthier”.
He said: “Living in a decent and well-located house means people are healthier.
“We were testing the issue of ‘housing beyond just a shelter’ and found out that access to amenities like schools is critical.”
Jabulani Heights is expected to yield 4 200 units of a combination of rental and ownership stock selling from R242 000 for a single-bedroomed bachelor flat to R526 000 for 86m2 three-bedroomed units.
Down the road from Jabulani Mall, 500 new units of neat three-storey blocks of RDP and subsidised rental units are being built. Construction of a 300-bed Jabulani-Zola Hospital in front of the R320 million Jabulani Mall is almost complete. On the other side of the mall, the R150m colourful Soweto Theatre is nearing completion. All these are expected to form a new CBD for Soweto in Jabulani.