Referring to a recent media report that priority crimes had decreased drastically in Hillbrow (The Star 4 July 2007), dropping from 22 236 in 2002/2003 to 14 778 last year, Bester said this would encourage people back into the city, where accommodation was relatively affordable. In so doing, it would provide another, desperately-needed channel of affordable housing while simultaneously having a positive effect on property value growth in neighbouring suburbs such as Yeoville, Bertrams, Fordsburg and Vrededorp. Applauding efforts by the authorities to bring crime in suburbs such as Hillbrow and Berea under control, he said this was a critical factor in terms of encouraging residents back into Johannesburg’s high-density residential areas which would benefit both entry level home buyers wanting to be close to their work places and the city in terms of ensuring its ongoing upliftment.
“The City of Johannesburg is to be commended on its progress in terms of upgrading the area, which at one stage was a cesspit of crime and bad buildings,” he said. “As Johannesburg’s historical core, it has enormous potential to become a cosmopolitan city where the residential and business sectors thrive side-by-side.”
According to Nthatisi Modingoane, media liaison officer for the City of Johannesburg, the city’s property market has shown a significant improvement in the last few years, evidenced by a 500 percent increase in building activity between 2001 and 2004, a decline in A- and B-grade offices vacancy rates and measurably rising confidence.
Intensive management of challenges like crime, along with huge investments into the regeneration of areas such as Constitution Hill, Nelson Mandela Bridge and Newtown and others were beginning to pay dividends, he said, with the private sector showing increased confidence in investing and residing in the city. “What is also heartening is that a growing number of the people moving into the Inner City are young and better educated than their predecessors, many of whom were the poorest of the poor.”
"The City has recently committed to an additional R300 million capital expenditure for the inner city for this coming financial year, and a further R100 million operational expenditure which would be spent in terms of an ambitious operational plan aimed at making the inner city a cleaner and more functional environment. The City is also expected to announce soon the details of the new partnership and other institutional arrangements that will oversee the implementation of the Inner City Regeneration Charter".
Bester cited Newtown, which lies to the west of Johannesburg’s city centre, as another heartening example of how a once crime-ridden area was well on its way to becoming a safe and popular source of cultural activity, attracting steady investment into the area. Braamfontein, too, was showing great potential, he said, with rising business confidence and new investment coming from both the residential and commercial private sectors.
In support of the vision of the City of Johannesburg and its stakeholders, which in short was to establish a “dynamic city that worked, was liveable, safe, well-managed and welcoming for residents, workers, tourists, entrepreneurs and learners”, Bester said the real estate sector also had a role to play in assisting with the realization of this vision.
“Estate agents need to get to know the Inner City, to research its history and future, and then include it in their operational areas. They need to promote it in terms of it being both a desirable place to live and a good investment opportunity. Positive marketing will encourage further investment. This will in turn ensure the ongoing progress of its regeneration which already has a solid institutional framework and pragmatic policies in place. The regeneration of the city is an ongoing process, and its needs the assistance of as many additional stakeholders as possible, people who will throw their weight and effort behind the process so that can move forward as quickly and decisively as possible.”