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Aslan Village

A little hidden neighbourhood on the edge of the city next to the busiest taxi rank in town, is where we dream of the Aslan Village. This is a small residential area, just north of Boom Street in the city centre. We were able to purchase two houses on this block, and redeveloped one house into the Rivoningo Care Centre.

One of our partner organizations - Missions Exposure and Training - was able to purchase six houses on this block. Between us we now own 40% of the properties on this block, and we dream of consolidating what we have and of sharing what we know and see, to reshape this neighbourhood.

Their focus is on mission education and training and our focus

New Projects

 

We develop housing through the conversion of vacant buildings, optimizing land use on existing sites, the refurbishment of so-called bad buildings, and the construction of new housing on appropriate sites. We will continue to focus on the inner city of Tshwane including Salvokop, Marabastad, Pretoria West, Sunnyside and Arcadia. We are also exploring housing developments in the Greater Tshwane region at large.

Tau Building

Tau Village is finally on site, an envisaged 109 units to be ready by March 2010. Tau (meaning “Lion” in Sotho) represents respect and dignity and metaphorically the building which once was used for sex trafficking and drug abuse will regain its dignity through a good use. It will be a first of its kind to show a balanced mix of:

· commercial units on the ground floor,

· units for elderly and disabled people,

· Lerato House (accommodation for the girls aged between 11-18 years who are at risk),

· a pre-school also on the ground floor with its own garden space,

· 1/2/3 bedroom institutional units, and

· some loft apartments with roof gardens.

Thembelihle Village

The development of Thembelihle is an old concept; after timeless negotiations with the Gauteng Department of Housing they have agreed to give us a 30-year lease for this development. Since its inception in 1999, we are now finalizing the signing of the lease with the City of Tshwane municipality. However long and tedious the process was, it has helped to establish a better relationship with the City of Tshwane and we trust this will open doors for other projects.

This village will be a mixed-income, mixed-use development, compromising 462 housing units, 25 store fronts, as well as com-

plementary social and recreational facilities. The site is situated in a part of the city that used to be known as “Goede Hoop” (in Dutch). Thembelihle is the isiZulu phrase for “good hope” and tries to capture the vision of reconstructing the story of this part of the inner city, providing hope to people who previously lacked access to the city. Not only will it provide families with increased access to urban housing and social services, but it will also help drive the regeneration of a part of the city that has been abandoned for far too long.

Leyds Street Development

The Leyds Street Congregational Church is one of the partners in the movement of the Tshwane Leadership Foundation and Pretoria Community Ministries. They agreed to the redevelopment of their church hall to include 40 residential units, focusing specifically on young and older women moving from The Potter’s House and Lerato House into independent living. This is an innovative partnership between a local church seeking to utilize its space optimally for healing purposes, YCH as housing developer, and PCM as the social development agency of the churches. We envisage this to be a community of great potential, not only to transform individual lives but also to transform the life of the host church.

Tswelelang Foster Care Home

We are also excited to announce the addition of more units at Loop Street. Tswelelang now houses 11 girls, 6 in one house and 5 in another, each with a foster mother. These services are also attributed to the work of Pretoria Community Ministries, our sister organization that deals with social welfare of our people. Here again, the idea of holistic community building is realised; the idea that whilst Yeast City Housing continues to look at the interests of the City and its infrastructures, PCM will continue to look at the interest of its people, especially the vulnerable.

is on housing and social development, and we dream together of a process whereby we will redevelop our properties in a way that will integrate our strengths and our objectives, as part of the reweaving of a supportive community. The housing that we envisage will be a mix of communal housing, housing for people with special housing needs, and family units.

We are at this stage finalising with SA Heritage Council for their approval after which we will be able to go ahead with this project.