SA Affordable Housing July / August 2017 // Issue: 65 | Page 39

PROJECTS
Cross-subsidised
housing model for the
missing middle
Innovation and critical thinking are required to find more affordable
housing solutions for the middle-income group. Cape Town urban
property developer – Blok – has developed a model, which is a
potential solution to this growing problem.
By Ntsako Khosa | Images: Blok
A rendering of one of the apartments and its view at Forty on L.
B
lok will launch its new development, Forty on L,
which is located on privately owned vacant land that
was recently acquired on Lion Street on the slopes of
Cape Town’s Signal Hill in an area known as Bo-Kaap,
formerly the Malay Quarter.
This project will pilot Blok’s 80:20 model, which aims to
respond to the needs of today's market for more
diversified urban housing in well located areas. “We’ve
called the model we’ve developed the 80:20 model which
refers to 80% of the building that is typical open market
units and the remaining 20% is cross-subsidised by the
open market units,” says Jacques van Embden, Blok’s
managing director and co-founder.
The concept was borne out of the rapid escalation of
property prices coupled with a response to the need for
more dynamic property offerings within the ever-
expanding city. “We want to introduce a product to the
market that pushes the boundaries of the current narrow
understanding of urban property offerings, particularly
new residential developments,” he says.
AFFORDABLE
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