The transformation of City Deep hostel, where as many as 14 men once crammed into a single room, was shown off to the media on Wednesday.
”It was dirty, it was unhygienic, and it was unclean,” said Johannesburg social housing company (Joshco) CEO Rory Gallocher.
”It was really quite grim,” he said.
City Deep’s history goes back to the 1930s when it was built for workers of the Garzoni mine.
By the 1970s, the mine had long gone bust and the hostel was used to house municipal workers. At that time, sun-blanched walls of concrete and brick corralled workers into narrow walkways and cramped, ill-lit rooms.
Perhaps worst of all, the hostel — like so many others — was single-sex, meaning that men arriving in Johannesburg to find work often had to give up living with their families.
But since 2005, City Deep has been undergoing R148-million renovations to transform into affordable housing units for families.
Today, where once there were only male municipal workers, children play in the sun and women clean their husband’s shoes on stoeps.
”When you see toys and the messes kids make, it tells you the building is transforming,” said Gallocher.
”We’ve tried to turn this construction inside out. We wanted to transform this hostel so that you’ll never recognise it as a hostel.”
Aaron Tibe, an employee of Pikitup, has lived in City Deep for 18 years — almost all of those years away from his family.
”Before it was hard because I stayed in one room with 10 people,” he said.
Since the changes at City Deep, Tibe now lives with his wife and four children and has even began buying his own furniture — something unlikely in the days of his hostel dwelling.
Colbert Mphaphuli, a metro cop who has lived in the hostel for 26 years, has also set up a proper home with his wife, who has finally been able to join him from Limpopo.
”It is much better because we can now stay with our families,” said Mphaphuli.
Housing manager James Maluleke said initially it had been difficult to get support for the renovations because the negative connotations with hostels meant potential funders were reluctant to get involved.
”[We said] forget that the land used to be a hostel. Think of it as a piece of land. Because you have to use every piece of land you find.”
As Maluleke led journalists around City Deep, it was as if every improvement was a source of pride for him. Like a stamp collector with his album, he pored over every detail, every new toilet, every window, every constraining wall knocked down — and every family finally reunited under one roof.
Before the renovations, the outdoor centre of City Deep was dominated by a shower and toilet facility, as decrepit as it was massive.
Around it, weeds and overgrown grass competed with planted mielies for space.
Today, the facility is gone and has been replaced by a plaza and large gazebo.
On Wednesday, workers planted and watered sod which would soon become a lawn and children’s play area. There are large brick pots which might one day host shady trees or bushes.
Until then, demonstrating that some changes take longer than others, residents have used the aesthetically pleasing pots to grow mielies.
City Deep hostel lies between Johannesburg and Alberton and is only a few kilometres from the central business district.
”It might surprise you but part of what drew funding was [the hostel’s] proximity to the inner city,” said Gallocher.
He added that the inner city suffered from population pressure and projects like City Deep could alleviate it.
Around 275 rooms have been completely renovated and are currently housing between 500 and 600 people.
All of the rooms are either one or two bedrooms and monthly rent is kept at a below-market R830 to R1 300.
All of the families living in City Deep had a male relative who previously resided in the hostel.
As the application process opens, Joshco expects to pull in more people from the local community.
Joshco aims to complete a total of 654 rooms by the time the project concludes.
City Deep is one of several renovation projects around Johannesburg, as Joshco is also redoing hostels in Orlando, Klipspruit, Selby and Antea.
It’s also completing renovations of a Hillbrow building described as ”uninhabitable”, into affordable rental housing. — Sapa