Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis officially handed over the City’s flagship Salt River Market site for the construction of 970 inner-city affordable housing units by developer Communicare. The Mayor was joined by Councillor Carl Pophaim, Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, and Mark van Wyk, Chairperson of Communicare NPC. The development includes 300 social housing rental units and 670 affordable market units.
Salt River Market is among four inner-city sites where construction is set to begin this year on over 3 000 affordable units in total, including over 1 500 social housing rental apartments. The other sites are Newmarket Street (Foreshore), Pickwick Street (Salt River) and Fruit & Veg (Zonnebloem, CBD).
In the term of office to date, the City has released land set to yield around 5 000 affordable units under the Mayoral Priority Programme to accelerate land release for affordable housing.
‘The historic Salt River Market is one of our most exciting inner-city affordable housing projects, and we are pleased to reach the point of handover for the development of 970 affordable units.
‘Construction is now set to commence here, and on three other central Cape Town inner-city sites this year. These are the visible results of our accelerated land release programme taking shape, creating thousands of affordable housing opportunities for Cape Town families in the CBD and other well-located parts of our city.
‘This is how we are making under-used public assets work for Capetonians, with a broader land release pipeline of over 12 000 affordable housing units in various well-located parts of the metro,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
The development demonstrates an innovative public private partnership model, with the City contributing land at a 90% discount (around R95 million total subsidy).
‘The completed Salt River Market development provide affordable rental options to households earning up to approximately R34 400 per month. It will also deliver rentals ranging from approximately R700 to R10 000 per month across unit types, making it affordable for Cape Town families,’ said Councillor Carl Pophaim, Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements.
The ceremonial handover of Salt River Market to the developer follows a complex, multi year social facilitation process to resolve unlawful occupation at the site. This included the relocation of 70 informal households to upgraded accommodation in the Maitland area in May 2026, as well as the previous resolution of commercial traders occupying the site.
‘Communicare plans to develop the ground-floor as retail, a piazza, day care and a sports field to create a vibrant public realm. A total of 300 Social Housing apartments will be added in seven storeys above ground, and 670 affordable housing apartments in nine storeys. The Salt River Hall will also be restored and preserved for its heritage value. Honouring the origins of the market, our development plans include making provision for the four long-standing fresh produce traders to continue to operate at the Salt River Market,’ said the Chairperson of Communicare, Mark van Wyk.
