Residents’ move delayed

Fire victims at Woodstock Hall in dark over arrangements for alternative accommodation

THE CLOCK is ticking for a group of people who have been staying at the Woodstock Hall, a designated voting station. They have only one day left to find alternative accommodation before voting takes place on Wednesday.

“No one is telling us anything at this point, a few weeks ago someone from Disaster Risk Management came to the hall and said that we have to be out because voting is going to take place here. But we have been told that we will be moving into the City’s transitional housing in Pickwick; we’ve heard nothing else,” said Cathleen Paulse, a resident. Paulse, along with 13 other families, has been staying at the Woodstock Hall since February. They were the victims of a massive fire last year in the informal settlement on Pine Road that resulted in the death of an 8-month-old infant.

“They have the plans with them and they took us with them to visit the area and they promised us that we will move in, but they said they had had too much red tape,” she said.

The Pickwick transitional housing site is a first for the city and will provide short-term accommodation to those living on the Pine Road site which, once complete, will provide about 230 social housing opportunities. The housing site, on the corner of Pickwick and Copperfield roads, has 42 rooms, communal bathrooms and kitchens, as well as access control to ensure the safety of tenants. The construction of the development cost about R11 million.

“These residents have nothing and no one is telling us anything about when we can move because these people are living with their children and it’s unsafe for them,” Paulse said.

The mayoral committee member for Human Settlements, Malusi Booi, said he was not aware of the residents living in the hall, but added that accommodation for residents was almost ready.

“The residents are still moving, we are still waiting for the occupational certificate and we are hoping to move residents in this week.”

We have been told we will be moving to Pickwick Cathleen Paulse RESIDENT