Neglected buildings in inner cities flagged for student accommodation
Lindiwe Sisulu wants to recruit young developers to upgrade neglected inner city buildings to address the student accommodation crisis
RUN-DOWN buildings in inner cities should be used to help combat the student accommodation shortage around universities in the country, Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has said.Speaking at the inaugural human settlements conference in Port Elizabeth last week, Sisulu told delegates her department would be working with the Department of Higher Education and Training to develop a model to increase student accommodation."As government we believe that some of the run-down buildings in our inner cities can be used for accommodating students; we believe this can be a chance for young developers to enter the property market," said Sisulu. "We are working on this as an urgent project."Sisulu said she had been meeting with developers and private investors and owners of buildings in the inner cities to work out a plan and model.Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande earlier this year reiterated that the higher education budget was not enough to deal with the 200,000-bed shortage o...
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