Thousands of homeseekers attend JOSHCO’s open day

09 November 2017

 

At least 3 000 residents descended on the headquarters of the Johannesburg Social Housing (JOSHCO) in Doorfontein during an Open Day on Wednesday, 8 November 2017, to enquire about low-cost rental accommodation.

 

The queue stretched over a kilometre on Siverwright Avenue as hundreds sheltered under umbrellas and straw hats. All were hoping that they get to rent one of the more than 600 affordable rental units in the inner city (Kerk Street), African Diamond (Kerk Street) and Hoek Street in the coming months.

This follows the recent Council approval of the plan for tackling the housing challenge within the inner city and creating safer, cleaner and more connected communities with access to economic opportunities

One of the hopefuls, Michael Gumede, who resides in a flat in Hillbrow, said: "Where I'm living it is completely unsafe and the living conditions are extremely poor. Now I'm hoping to live in safe, clean, and affordable accommodation with my family."

Another one was 48-year-old Jemina Bethanie from Eldorado Park. She raved about the warm welcome she received from JOSHCO employees. "I got the information about the Open Day from a newspaper and I have no words to express how much joy this development has brought me."

The CEO of JOSHCO, Anthony Ngcezula, said: "To date, 12 buildings have been approved for quality, low-cost housing as part of the City's plan to revitalise the inner city to address the significant backlog of affordable housing and enhancing the image of the inner city.

"The City will achieve its mandate to curb urban decay by converting inner city buildings into liveable properties," said Ngcezula.

Potential accommodation seeker will be notified via SMSes about their application process and which JOSHCO unit they qualified for.

Tenants are screened through a JOSHCO application process and vetted according to set criteria. As they are generally first-time renters, the rights and obligations of a responsible tenant are communicated through compulsory workshops.

The process for enquiries is now officially closed. "We will not be taking any applications till we have completed capturing and giving feedback on the ones we received today and prior," said Nthabiseng Mphela, the Marketing and Communications Manager for JOSHCO.