" Providing the right kind of housing requires an in-depth understanding of people in the community or surrounds ."
FEATURES
" Providing the right kind of housing requires an in-depth understanding of people in the community or surrounds ."
– Hariwe Johnson , Masters in Architecture graduate .
The red dots highlight bad buildings in the Johannesburg CBD .
transferred fraudulently from previous owners to the current owners ,” she explains .
Some of the identified buildings are City-owned and Rammala admits that this may have been because of internal mismanagement . The City has about 500 buildings that have been identified as bad . “ As of 30 December 2017 , the GFIS are investigating about 265 cases . The number fluctuates as more cases are brought in and others are resolved ,” Rammala explains .
In his thesis titled ‘ The ‘ Dark ’ City : Critical Interventions in Urban Despair ’, Masters in Architecture , artist , designer , researcher and project manager , Hariwe Johnson , is against calling the buildings ‘ bad ’ or ‘ hijacked ’ as , “ this criminalises the buildings and the people that live in them ”.
His thesis led him on a journey that studied the buildings and occupants to create a sustainable and decent place for current and future residents . Although his research focused on the buildings , he used a property located on the corner End and Kerk streets in Doornfontein – called ‘ Dark City ’, as a basis .
When looking at the redevelopment and renovation , Johnson states that a different approach is required . “ Some of the principles can overlap . To design for a building that already has services , and rental structures , this would need a slightly different approach .”
UNDERSTANDING BAD BUILDINGS
According to Johnson , the state of housing in the central business district ( CBD ) is due to history , migration , politics , violence as well as economic , racial and social issues . Much of the inner city has , “ experienced constant cyclical repurposing moving from light-industrial / typically residential to ‘ slum ’ like conditions at least six times over the past 130 years since the birth of Johannesburg ,” he says .
One of the aims of providing housing is to ensure that the area is well located for people to work , live and play . The inner city is a prime example of such a place . Although there are many bad buildings ( with many having been redeveloped for secure and affordable housing ) in the city it is not all of them that make financial sense for conversion .
Liaison officer , Pressage Nyoni , from commercial property development financier , TUHF , explains , “ It is buildings which don ’ t necessarily make financial sense to convert or which are ‘ bad ’ or hijacked buildings which are not necessarily taken up as development opportunities .
“ There are many dynamics involved in redeveloping a problem property ,” says Rammala . Dynamics related to those who occupy . Some are unemployed and can ’ t afford good liveable conditions . It is enshrined in the constitution that everyone has a right to housing . In understanding this law , the City understands responsibility that it can ’ t evict occupants and not have alternative accommodation . “ The City has not been evicting , it is the private owners that are . We work with property owners towards a common end goal for both parties ,” she explains .
As part of their investigation , Rammala ’ s unit not only looks at criminal activity , they also profile occupiers to understand socio-economic facets and status . They try and come up with a holistic approach to deal with the problem . “ In order to turn them around , we need to know who is staying there , what their means of survival are , and so on . This data assists in ensuring that once the property is redeveloped , the housing department will be able to do necessary allocations where applicable ,” she says .
During Johnson ’ s research , he found that people who occupy the building are ordinary people who are looking to make a better living for themselves and their families . Some of them are from various parts of the country . While few criminals are found , and roughly half the inhabitants are South African . Additionally , in a lot of these buildings there are no rental structures .
“ No-one owns a floor , in some buildings , there are community members on each floor . Community members have generally been living in the building the longest ,” he explains .
LEGAL PROCESS
Rammala shares that in South African law , an offence under property hijacking isn ’ t constituted and on the other hand ,
AFFORDABLE
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