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The Johannesburg Housing Company, an important role player in the revival of the inner city, has renovated a derelict building in Hillbrow in a novel way.

Please find the complete article at:

http://www.eprop.co.za/news/article.aspx?idArticle=4395&pf=1

The first phase of the Brickfields housing project, a mixed-income residential development in Newtown, Johannesburg, is well on course, with allocations expected in June.

Please find the complete article at:

http://www.southafrica.info/doing_business/economy/development/brickfiel...

Gauteng MEC for Housing Nomvula Mokonyane has expressed excitement on the excellent progress made on the R98,7 million Brickfields Housing Project.

Please find the complete article at:

http://www.gpg.gov.za/docs/nz/2005/nz0314.html

Nine inner-city buildings, including the infamous Mimosa and Europa hotels and The Lloyd, all havens of crime and prostitution, are to be renovated to the tune of R40-million.

Please find the complete article at:

http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=129&fArticleId=2455285

Alicestine October

© Sake-Beeld

Die grootste openbare en private vennootskap in Suid-Afrikaanse behuising, die Brickfields-behuisingsprojek in Newtown, Johannesburg, is goed op dreef.

'n Vorderingsverslag oor die ontwikkeling is Vrydag bekend gemaak en het saamgeval met 'n terreinbesoek deur onder andere mnr. Taffy Adler, uitvoerende hoof van die Johannesburgse behuisingsmaatskappy (JHC) en me. Lindiwe Sisulu, minister van behuising.

By Lucky Sindane

© Johannesburg Development Agency 20050701

It is early on Friday morning and a queue of people, carrying white envelopes containing lease contracts, is forming outside the new Brickfields housing development in Newtown.

They are here to get the keys to their new homes, the first group of 300 tenants moving into the innovative, 600-unit block, on Friday, 1 July.

Brickfields, an initiative overseen by the Johannesburg Housing Company, offers one- to three-bedroomed flats catering for a range of people across income groups.

By Anna Cox

© The Star 2005-07-04

The first tenants have moved into the R98,7-million cosmopolitan housing project in Brickfields, Newtown, in the Johannesburg CBD.

On Friday great excitement greeted the offloading of bakkies and rummaging for the right keys as the tenants were shown around by Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC) officials. By 10am some curtains were already hung as the residents started settling in.

© Sapa

Retrieved from Sundaytimes.co.za http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/zones/sundaytimesNEW/newsst/newsst112384843...

The Brickfields Housing project had transformed a wasteland into a place of hope, President Thabo Mbeki said at its opening in Newtown.

"We have been able to resurrect what was clearly becoming a wasteland into a place of hope, a place that inspires confidence into the future," he said.

The project was a "tangible expression" on how decaying inner cities could be transformed into peaceful neighbourhoods.

© City of Johannesburg website www.joburg.org.za

Welcome Address by the Executive Mayor, Councillor Amos Masondo, on the Ocassion of the Offical Opening of the Brickfields Housing Project, Newtown, Johannesburg August 12, 2005

Programme Director,
The President of the Republic of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki;
Gauteng Premier, Mbhazima Shilowa;
Gauteng MEC for Housing, Nomvula Mokonyane;
CEO of Anglo American, Lazarus Zim;
CEO of Absa, Dr Steve Booysen;
Managers and officials in government and the private sector;
Members of the community;
Distinguished Guests;

© City of Johannesburg website www.joburg.org.za

By Lucky Sindane

The staff of the Johannesburg Housing Company with the president

THE R97,8-million Brickfields project in Newtown, the largest ever public-private partnership in housing in South Africa, was officially launched by President Thabo Mbeki on Friday, 12 August.

© Gauteng Provincial Government

http://www.gpg.gov.za/frames/nz0812-f.html

The perpetuation of settlement patterns along racial, gender and class divisions is an obstacle to the objective of building a non-racial and non-sexist society, says President Thabo Mbeki.

© The Star http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=131&fArticleId=2835868

Moshoeshoe Monare

President Thabo Mbeki yesterday flayed unscrupulous "landlords" who raked in incomes from illegally renting out empty inner-city buildings.

He also said it was time to put a stop to "pro-rich" housing developments, including gated communities and golf estates, where the wealthy had the best land situated near the best facilities, and the poor were relegated to dusty, semi-developed land far situated far from modern infrastructures.

© Star

By Lee Rondganger and Anna Cox

Tshidi Tau stood on the balcony of her home to try get a glimpse of President Thabo Mbeki.

"I've never met him before. It is so exciting that he is here," she said.

Mbeki officially opened the newly built Brickfields residential development in Newtown, Johannesburg, on Friday, and along with Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa and City of Johannesburg executive mayor Amos Masondo, toured the buildings.

© Business Day

Another major residential development is being planned for the popular Newtown precinct in the inner city.

The R150m development, which will consist of four high-density apartment blocks, will be launched in October, and follows the successful launch of the mixed-income Brickfields development in Newtown on Friday.

Large private property player Zenprop is one of the financial backers and co-developers of the Newtown Central Place Project, which is the planned development of the land around Central Place opposite the Mary Fitzgerald Square.

© CITICHAT 24/2005

As one would expect the Johannesburg Housing Company's official opening of their Brickfields Project in Newtown last Friday was a swell affair. The fact that the President, Thabo Mbeki, was officiating highlighted the importance of the occasion -
Brickfields was in fact one of the projects that came out of the Presidential Job Summit agreed back in 1998.

Landmarks & Learnings: 10 Years of the Johannesburg Housing Company

After 15 years of living in the city, Gcina Mahlatashana says his three months at the new Brickfields residential complex in Newtown has been the best... Lloyd Gedye investigates the various options available to those who are keen on inner-city living © Mail & Guardian

© Johannesburg News Agency
By Lucky Sindane

The Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC) is 10 years old, celebrating its birthday at Constitution Hill in Braamfontein last week.

The board, staff members and children from JHC buildings, who entertained the guests with music, attended the party.

Over the past 10 years JHC's board, staff, tenants, consultants, contractors and service providers have built 2 403 homes in 21 buildings, adding 8 percent to residential stock in the inner city. Some 8 000 men, women and children now call a JHC building their "home".

By Anish Abraham

© City of Johannesburg website

http://www.joburg.org.za/2005/dec/dec21_year.stm

It was the year in which the Johannesburg inner city revival really gathered pace: in 2005 local and provincial government and the private sector got involved in efforts to bring back the CBD's glory days.

The task was made a little easier when the national Treasury declared much of Joburg's inner city the country's largest Urban Development Zone (UDZ). This entitles building owners who refurbish their properties to a tax incentive.

The development of Brickfields has brought a new community into being in the inner city...

© Johannesburg News Agency
By Lucky Sindane

The Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC) is celebrating after winning the 2006 UN Habitat Award for innovative and sustainable housing solutions.

The Building and Social Housing Foundation established the UN Habitat awards in 1985. The awards recognise projects that provide practical and innovative solutions to housing needs and problems.

© Johannesburg News Agency
By Neil Fraser

How is Joburg really doing?

Before looking at the question, a short diversion: I was privileged to attend a very special lunch on Wednesday, 27 September, when the Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC) staff, management, board and some friends celebrated yet another milestone in the life of this extraordinary company.

The Building and Social Housing Foundation is delighted to announce the two winners of this year’s World Habitat Awards for innovative and sustainable housing solutions: Johannesburg Housing Company South Africa Building and Construction Improvement Programme of the Aga Khan Planning and Building Service, Pakistan This special edition newsletter provides details of the two winning projects and nine finalists in the competition.

By Pauline Larsen

Johannesburg's inner city in the early 1990s was a scary place to be. Crime and grime were rife, companies were moving northwards into the suburbs en masse, and property values were plunging.

The thing to do was escape from the city, not revitalise it.

Into this seemingly inauspicious environment, the Johannesburg Housing Co (JHC) was born in 1995. Its aim was to tackle the overwhelming need for affordable housing in Johannesburg's most notorious neighbourhoods.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY L N SISULU MINISTER OF HOUSING AT THE FIRST ANNUAL GOVAN MBEKI HOUSING AWARDS

27 October 2006

Centre Court, Emperor’s Place

Johannesburg

________________________________________

Ministers

Deputy Ministers

Members of the Provincial Executive Councils

Chairperson and Members of the of the Portfolio Committee on Housing

Chairperson and Members of the Select Committee on Social Services

Chairperson and Council of the NHBRC

Chief Executive Officers of Housing Institutions

Finalists of the Award Categories

Honored guests

© Sake Beeld

“Die maatskappy is al so oud soos die demokrasie in Suid-Afrika,” het me. Juanita Prinsloo van die Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC) gister gesê.

Die JHC is verlede Donderdagaand bekroon met ’n spesiale toekenning vir maatskaplike verantwoordelikheid by die Groter Johannesburgse Sakekamer se onderneming van die jaar- prysuitdelingsfunksie.

Dié maatskappy verskaf maatskaplike behuising in die middestad van Johannesburg waar hulle sowat 22 geboue bestuur.

Joburgers are getting housed - but more can still be done writes Reggy Moalusi of the Daily Sun. Please use the link below to access a scanned version of the article. © Daily Sun

The revival of Johannesburg’s inner city has seen an escalation in the value of property, making it more difficult for government and nonprofit organisations to provide much needed social housing for low-income earners by Chantelle Benjamin, Business Day. © Business Day

Heather Dodd and Colin Savage work outside the glare of publicity, putting low-income housing theory into practice. Dodd is a product of UCT under Ivor Prinsloo. In fact her Master's thesis was base on insider knowledge of the Prinsloo group's work at Rand Mines Properties at the beginning of the 1970s - not an uncritical work but a valuable case-study of theory and practice out of joint.

Housing MEC Ms Nomvula Mokonyane has announced new members to serve on the Gauteng Rental Tribunal during a function held at Rosebank's Hyatt Hotel. Gauteng Department of Housing

Johannesburg inner city dwellers are not different to those who lived there at the turn of the century. SA Jewish Report

A wide range of variables involved in an investment in Johannesburg's northern suburbs, carry with them a certain level of uncertianty. Not only is there an over-supply of investment apartments, but purchase prices are high, and rentals are low relative to this price. More often than not in an attempt to make a return, units are bought off plan and sold before they have even been transferred. © South African Property Review SAPOA

The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship in partnership with Ernst & Young announced the
finalists for the Social Entrepreneur Awards South Africa 2007 last week. These awards acknowledge the positive impact of their efforts on South Africa through a focus on social change, innovation and sustainability.

Africa is hot property at the moment. American publication Vanity Fair's July issue is dedicated to the continent, with such figures as Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Brad Pitt, Madonna,Oprah Winfrey and George Bush playing prominent roles in the "African conversation".

UN award for Joburg housing
Lucky Sindane

28 September 2006

The Johannesburg Housing Company has been awarded a prestigious UN Habitat Award for its pioneering social housing projects in Johannesburg's inner city.

Every year, the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) recognises two projects that provide practical and innovative solutions to housing needs and problems.

© Business Day

By Chantelle Benjamin
Johannesburg Metro Editor

The Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC), one of the largest inner-city residential landlords, has managed to keep its rent arrears at 3% for 10 years, despite catering largely for the lower end of the market.

This achievement and its innovative solutions to the city’s chronic housing shortage has earned it the UN Habitat Award, which is to be presented to CEO Taffy Adler in Naples, Italy, next month.

Taffy Adler and the Johannesburg Housing Company refurbish occupied buildings and construct new ones to offer affordable, safe housing in the Johannesburg Inner City. The Inner City had been abandoned by businesses and become centers of crime. Through its 24 buildings, which offer a home to more than 8500 people, the JHC has managed to be the main motor behind the regeneration of entire street blocks and districts in the city. It has invested more than R220m in creating an additional 8% of housing stock in the inner city for low and moderate-income earners.

Taffy Adler, CEO of the Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC), a private, not-for-profit “social housing institution” in South Africa, pondered the history and trajectory of his organization as he trudged through the snow in New Haven, Connecticut. Attending a conference co-sponsored by the Development Finance Forum and the Yale School of Management in December 2007, he was slightly bemused by the notion that international delegates would consider JHC a financial services organization and, specifically, “a development finance institution.”

The South African Institute of Architects President's Award recognises work from across the entire profession for the contribution architecture makes to the development of a sustainable built environment and the societies which it serves.

Elangeni Social Housing Project became the first inner city housing project to attact a commercial bank loan in South Africa, paving the way for other social housing companies to attract private public partnership funding.

Savage and Dodd Architects

This must link to the following URL http://www.joburg.org.za/content/view/2595/58/

In 2008 Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC) entered the Dubai International Award to improve the living environment. The competition organisers received 436 entries.

The winners are: The Palestinian Housing Council, Ramallah, Palestine
Water and Sanitation Extension Program (WASEP), Karachi, Pakistan.

Making the City Your Home in Post Apartheid South Africa: The Work of the Johannesburg Housing Company was selected as a Good Practice.

Other South African initiatives which were recognised are:
The Hammarsdale Sustainability Project

Estabalished in 1995, at the dawn of South Africa's democracy, the Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC) has been widely recognised as a pioneer in social housing development and inner city regeneration.

This report contains a discussion of the findings and implications of the two pilor case studies carried out in Johannesburg. The two projects selected were Brickfields in Newtown and Carr Gardens in Fordsburg. The report gives an account of the context, design and layout and views of the various stakeholders of each project. This is followed by comparisons of the findings of the two projects and a comparison with international findings, as well as the implications for the conceptual framework guiding the research and research methodology.