Thousands of families finally have decent homes of their own in the accelerating mixed housing development, Cosmo City Flagship Project. The project is an integrated housing development that was initiated by Gauteng Department of Local Government and Housing in partnership with the City of Johannesburg in 2005 to address housing problems.
The project provides four types of housing to suit the finances of different people. These include 5 000 RDP units, occupied by people who were moved from Zevenfontein and Riverbed informal settlements; 3 000 partially subsidised units; 3 300 fully bonded houses and 1 000 institutional units or flats for rent.
There are fully subsidised houses, credit linked houses and fully bonded houses. Some of the bonded houses are double-storey. The gardens are beautifully landscaped and the walls differ from house to house. On completion, the population of Cosmo City is expected to be between 65 000 and 70 000 people.
Currently, 3 340 RDP units have been occupied by qualifying beneficiaries since on the 7 November 2005 and 1652 stands have been serviced and top structures are under construction.
Mixed housing development programme is an innovative approach to housing delivery that provides a mixture of housing products to suit low income earners, middle income earners as well as high income earners. The aims is to promote the racial and class integrated settlements in Gauteng and also bring integrate communities in well located areas that provide economic opportunities or have greater potential for economic growth. The programme is undertaken in partnership with the private sector, especially financial institutions where a beneficiary has a choice to access the government subsidy to supplement a bond from a financial institution.
Issued by: Department of Local Government and Housing, Gauteng Provincial Government
3 June 2009
