By Odwa Bafana Mkentane
Social housing company Communicare has renamed the old and popular Salt River Market development to Salt River Junction.
Recently, the City of Cape Town officially handed over the Salt River Market site to Communicare for a major mixed-use inner-city development. The project will feature 970 total units, 300 social housing rentals and 670 affordable market units, with anticipated rents ranging from R700 to R10,000 per month.
In August, Communicare invited the Salt River community to help shape the identity of the development through a public naming competition. The initiative provided those who live and work in the neighbourhood with an opportunity to contribute to the precinct’s future and leave a lasting legacy.
Communicare CEO Anthea Houston says they want to create spaces where people from different backgrounds can live together with dignity, allowing entire communities to flourish and thrive.
“This development is so important to us. It will demonstrate several things that we believe the city needs to consider, particularly what can be achieved when the government makes public land available for more inclusive developments. Such developments can create opportunities for people from different income groups, including those working towards greater economic mobility and those who are simply struggling to make ends meet. It is therefore important that, over the next 100 years, communication contributes to building a more inclusive city, one that creates more space for people who have historically been excluded,” said Houston.
The project will also include approximately 2,000 square metres of ground-floor retail space to serve the needs of the 3,000 future residents, along with amenities for local children and the wider community.
Photo: VOCfm
