New Delft low-cost housing development - but some residents oppose it
The City has started a new low-cost “RDP” housing project called Breaking New Ground in Roosendal in Delft. But some Delft community members oppose it.
The development will build over 2,400 units is its foundation phase. The new project is on a piece of ground used to play soccer in Roosendal, an area of Delft that is over 20 years old.
Councillor Ernest Sonnenberg, Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, said that Roosendaal will have 288 housing units. He says that other vacant pieces of land around Delft will also be used for the new project. “The City has identified land in Roosendaal, Eindhoven and The Hague for the 2,407 housing units,” he explained. Umzali Civils obtained the contract for the civil services of the entire project with a budget of R37 million.
Should the project succeed many families will soon have a home to call their own. Resident Amelia Jones is excited about the project. “I am very happy that so many people will get houses. Many have waited for too long.”
There has been much conflict over housing in Delft and as in the past, this development is not universally welcomed.
Because the area is 20 years old, many residents believed land development in this area was complete, until recently when the bulldozers and construction workers arrived on the “soccer field”. Lauren Patience is a resident of Delft who lives next to the field and she is unhappy with the project. “We were not informed about anything. I went to the site and asked a construction worker what they were doing and he said he couldn’t tell me, because he could lose his job.”
However, Sonnenberg responded that residents were well informed before construction commenced, “The community was informed of the project through public meetings. The last of these were held on 30, 31 Oct and 1 Nov 2012.” Sonnenberg further explained that meeting minutes are available on request and that a Project Steering Committee that represents the Delft community was set up in 2010 when the project started.
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Letters
Dear Editor
We in Delft were supposed to be getting houses first as it is a community project for Delft people, but the people that moved in were from other places. We members of Delft are very cross. We are also on the waiting list. We had meetings over and over again giving our ID numbers for this project to start. Now, it's for some one else. They lied to us.
Dear Editor
i was supposed to get my house in 2013 but they say they could not find me. i was so surprised and they gave my house to someone else. Now i must wait for phase two. i want my house. Please give my house which I have waited so long for. Thanks.
Dear Editor
I'm still waiting on my house. I'm on the waiting list to get me and my two kids safe. When I go to the housing office it's just the same story every time. I'm getting fed up because I'm not in a safe environment and just want my children to be happy and safe. I just want my house as soon as possible. Please, I'm asking in God's name.
Dear Editor
I'm also on the waiting list for almost 15 years now. People who have been on the waiting list for ten years got houses before me. They say i fall under the Eindhoven project. Why don't they start to build there? i need a house before the winter starts, please.
Dear Editor
I'm also on a waiting list. I have 2 kids and for 5 years I rented a flat but now we are not in a safe place. I'm worried about my kids' security and health especially because it's winter now. Please help me to get a house.
Dear Editor
I need a house desperately. I have been renting all these years and the city told me I fall under the Moditi project in Delft but nothing ever materialized. I registered in 2003 and I'm still waiting.
Dear Editor
I have been renting since 2003. I registered for an RDP house in 2005 in Delft. All the people who I was with in the queue got their houses from N2 gateway project. I then went Bellville just to see that I am on the waiting list and I was informed that I am not reflecting on the system. I was advised to re-register again, which I did in 2008.
I have followed up on my application recently and I was told to wait since they are still busy with 1991 applications. Will ever get a properly in the WC?
Dear Editor
We have been on the waiting list since 2009. Yes I know it's not long but myself and husband and two kids and are struggling to keep up with rent payment. We've been backyard dwelling ever since we got married in 2006 and people ask you huge amounts of money for rent every month.
But do we have a choice? No. And yes I also heard of people being on the waiting list for less than we have been and got houses in the new development Roosendal. All I want is a place where my kids can call home and not have to move every second or third year due to rent prices going up every year its sad really. Even if we were given a plot to put our wendy house up, I would be grateful. But there's nothing like that in our area Voorbrug (Delft) sadly.
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