Questions over City’s plan to sell hospital

The City’s plan to sell the illegally occupied Woodstock hospital for a mix of social-housing and open-market development has drawn flak from the Woodstock Residents’ Association.

About 25 members of the association met at the Woodstock Improvement District’s boardroom on Wednesday last week to discuss what the sale of the building would mean for the area

The residents were all in favour of the site being developed for social housing, but they questioned why the City wanted to put it up for sale while it was occupied and wanted to know what alternative accommodation would be offered to the occupiers.

They also wanted to know why the City had not consulted the occupiers before inviting public comment on the proposal to sell the hospital.

WRA chairwoman Ute Kuhlmann said a 2019 report by Stedone consultants showed the site could be developed to significantly increase the number of living units, incrementally, without displacing the occupiers.

“In 2023, Heritage Western Cape approved the heritage Impact Assessment (“HIA”) application brought by the City to develop social housing on the former hospital site. The proposed development was for a medium-density development (three to five storeys) of about 500 social housing units. The WRA was in favour of social housing at the hospital site but pushed quite hard at the time that all the available pockets of government land at and around the hospital should be dealt with at the same time to avoid ‘piecemeal’ evaluation and development of the Woodstock precinct,” said Ms Kuhlmann.

The HIA consultants had considered the two sites identified by the City (the former hospital and the bowling green in Earl Street) and found that the hospital should be developed for social housing while the bowling green (last tenanted to Al Noor orphanage) should be added to the existing Melbourne Park, she said.

“As per the public participation notice, the City is now planning to sell the former hospital site to a developer, not just for social housing but also to develop ‘open market residential’ apartments on the site. This is neither what the site was sold for by Western Cape province to the City nor what heritage has given approval for.

“It means the community now faces the situation of separate evaluations and developments on adjacent sites, which does not take into account other Woodstock sites,” she said

Some residents said they would support the sale of the hospital in order to upgrade the area, while some said the City should take the former Conradie Hospital development into consideration, looking at what worked and what didn’t.

The residents all agreed that the occupiers should not be left homeless or living in containers and said more creative solutions were needed to address the housing crisis in Woodstock.

Ms Kuhlmann said the association would make contact with mayoral committee member for human settlements Carl Pophaim to ask him to meet with the Woodstock community, including the occupiers, to answer all the questions that came up in the meeting.

In a statement, housing activist group Reclaim The City, which has been occupying the site since 2017, said the City’s plan to sell the hospital site without consulting residents threatened the stability and dignity of families living there, risking displacement and worsening poverty.

“We demand meaningful engagement with residents, as required by the Western Cape High Court. Our fight for Cissie Gool House (Reclaim The City’s name for the old hospital) is about dignity, justice, and community preservation. Housing is a fundamental right, not a commodity. Our movement opposes displacement and advocates for a city that serves all, regardless of economic status. We envision a future where everyone has access to safe, secure, and affordable housing. Together, we will continue to fight for our rights and our community,” the statement said.

The City has since extended the public participation period for the site from Wednesday November 27 to January 31 next year. This comes after the initial public participation process was extended from the mandatory statutory requirement of 30 days to 60 days, from September 27 to November 27.

Mr Pophaim said the site, which is valued at R87 million, has a potential residential development yield of about 500 units, comprising open market and social housing.

“I have pushed for an extension as we look forward to some further meaningful public participation on this valuable project. My directorate has worked hard against so many obstacles, including the unlawful occupation and hijacking of the building, as well as having to traverse the very complex regulatory and legal environment that governs public property disposal and affordable housing development. The illegal occupation of the Woodstock hospital site has been the single biggest delay to this development,” he said.

Mr Pophaim said the City would consult with the unlawful occupants as part of the broad public participation process for the disposal of the property.

Comments can be submitted by email to Affordable.Housing@capetown.gov.za or online at www.capetown.gov.za/haveyoursay

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