Concern About Cape Town’s Plan for Woodstock Hospital

About 100 people attended a meeting on Tuesday, organised by the Woodstock Residents Association (WRA) to discuss the City of Cape Town’s plans to sell the site to a private developer.

• The City of Cape Town plans to sell the old Woodstock Hospital to a developer to build social housing.
• But more than 850 people living in the building are worried they will be evicted and not benefit from social housing.
• Many of the residents moved into the hospital after being evicted from their homes in Woodstock during widespread gentrification of the area.
• The mayco member for human settlements did not to attend a community meeting on Tuesday where the Woodstock Residents Association called for more engagement from the City.

People living at old Woodstock Hospital, also known as Cissie Gool House, are concerned about the City of Cape Town’s plan to sell the property to a developer. While the plan is for social housing to be built at the site, occupants argue that the sale would not be in their best interest.

Some Woodstock residents are hopeful that a mixed-income development will help increase property values in the area. But the overwhelming sentiment by people at a community meeting on Tuesday evening, was support for those who currently live at Cissie Gool House.

The public comment period on the proposed sale closes Friday, 31 January. The City plans for the four-to-five-storey development to have 500 residential units, some of which will be subsidised social housing.

The City-owned property is currently home to more than 850 people. The hospital was unlawfully occupied in 2017 by housing activists as part of a Reclaim the City campaign. Many of the residents had been evicted from their homes in Woodstock and surrounding areas during widespread gentrification of the area. Now they can’t afford housing in the area.

About 100 people attended Tuesday’s meeting, organised by the Woodstock Residents Association (WRA). This was the second meeting since public participation began in September.

Most people at the meeting were residents of the hospital, supporters and members of activist organisations Ndifuna Ukwazi and Reclaim the City.

After the meeting, WRA chair Ute Kuhlmann told GroundUp that “adequate housing is a constitutional right”, and that “local residents, those living in the former hospital and elsewhere, have been let down by both national and local government”.

At the meeting the community agreed that selling the hospital for social housing would not resolve the current situation, because there were too many challenges.

This is our home

Cissie Gool residents say they are also worried that once the property is sold, they will be evicted and will not benefit from the social housing.

Social housing is generally allocated based on a bureaucratic process with opaque housing waiting databases.

The City says that the building is currently unlawfully occupied or “hijacked”, and that the occupation has been the single biggest delay to social housing.

Reclaim the City previously presented how the building could be upgraded to accommodate the occupants through its own co-design process. But this was ignored, said Karen Hendricks.

“We turned that place into a home for ourselves and our families,” said Hendricks at Tuesday’s meeting. “Cissie Gool House is a space where family life is at the core and heart of what we do.”

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has previously stated that he is open to meeting the residents and was considering incremental development. Incremental development is also part of the City’s official plan for the site.

“Once it’s finished, you take those who qualify back into the building as beneficiaries,” Hill-Lewis said. But it is unlikely that everyone at Cissie Gool would qualify, he said. “That’s going to be an issue because not everyone who moves out is going to be able to move back in.”

The City also commissioned a report on the hospital in 2019, but it has not yet been made public. People at the meeting repeated calls for it to be made public.

Broken promises

Occupants also believe the City has not made good on promises to properly talk to them about its plans. Mayoral committee member for human settlements Carl Pophaim was expected to attend Tuesday’s meeting but did not.

Instead, the management of the Woodstock Residents Association met City officials on Monday. The City has said that an “open day” is planned for February, after the deadline for written submissions.

Deena Bosch, a member of Reclaim the City, said it was “ridiculous” that the City is planning to only engage residents after the public participation period.

“We have sit-ins at the civic centre to speak to the City and they don’t come,” said Bosch. “We have asked several times for the City to have meaningful engagement. The history and fabric of Woodstock is still preserved in Cissie Gool House.”

Lorenzo Johnson of Ndifuna Ukwazi said, “There needs to be an appetite and willingness for everyone to work together to find a solution.”

“It has to happen in an inclusive and integrated way. Somehow we need to find a way for all residents to work together, including property owners. We need the City to engage the residents of Woodstock,” Johnson said.

WRA chair Kuhlmann told GroundUp that “community meetings run the risk of only hearing the loudest voices in the room, but they are necessary for meaningful public participation”. City officials need to avail themselves to manage or participate in these meetings during the comment period, she said.

In response to GroundUp’s questions, Pophaim confirmed that he would be leading a “public engagement campaign” which will include the Cissie Gool residents after the January deadline.

The City’s plan

The City proposed that the property be sold to a private developer for a mixed-use development. The property is valued at R87-million but will likely be sold at a discounted price.

Social housing developments receive a once-off subsidy from the Social Housing Regulatory Authority and are tightly regulated. Such developments can be undertaken by accredited social housing institutions or other private developers. According to the City’s proposal, Woodstock Hospital’s social housing units are likely to be subsidised at about R425,000 each.

About 500 residential units are proposed, but it is unclear what proportion of these will be social housing. To qualify for social housing, applicants should earn a monthly household income between R1,850 and R22,000, and are required to pay rent, which is capped at R6,475.

The City’s proposal does, however, include an alternative option for “affordable housing” to be developed, which is not regulated by the Social Housing Regulatory Authority.

The City’s approach to “affordable housing” has been criticised by activists for catering mostly to single, young professionals with monthly incomes of less than R29,600, leaving most lower-income to working-class families in the lurch.

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