While homeowners from Glenwood through to Overport are concerned about unscrupulous property developers cashing in on the need for student accommodation, three low-cost housing developments in Somerset Avenue, below Durban's Davenport Centre, have further ignited the ire of local residents, who say it will seriously impact property values in the neighbourhood. Picture: Leon Lestrade African News Agency (ANA ) While homeowners from Glenwood through to Overport are concerned about unscrupulous property developers cashing in on the need for student accommodation, three low-cost housing developments in Somerset Avenue, below Durban's Davenport Centre, have further ignited the ire of local residents, who say it will seriously impact property values in the neighbourhood. Picture: Leon Lestrade African News Agency (ANA )
Durban - Rowdy students, drunken parties, congested streets and ever-increasing numbers of dilapidated buildings. These are the nightmares that residents of Glenwood and Berea are having, as property developers snap up houses for conversion into student accommodation and hostel-type complexes.
Nationwide, a scramble for student accommodation near universities and colleges ensues around this time each year and, in Durban, property developers are cashing in on the fact that eThekwini Municipality currently does not have a policy on student accommodation zones in residential areas.
“We are now seeing more and more students being crowded into cubby-hole type accommodation units by landlords out to make a quick buck,” said Durban architect Yusuf Patel.
Kevin Dunkley, founder of Save the Berea, agreed.
“It has become a goldmine for greedy developers,” said Dunkley.
When the issue was last raised at a meeting in Glenwood in July, eThekwini Municipality senior planner Shikar Singh said a study had been commissioned which, once complete, would be translated into a Land Use Management plan for approval by council.
Daily News queries about progress on this have gone unanswered.
In the meantime, new places for student accommodation are opening across central Berea, Glenwood and Bulwer, said Dunkley.
Already plagued by prostitution and the mushrooming of brothels, residential property values in these areas are plummeting, added Dunkley.
Patel, who has led several successful urban regeneration projects in the city, said the demand for student accommodation had extended into Overport, where many families had recently been given notice because landlords were changing apartments to take in students.
“We are now seeing entire families being uprooted,” said Patel.
“Maintenance drops on the building as students don't look after places as much as a family would. Then there is the noise factor, safety issues and a strain on services,” added Patel.
Dunkley said while official accommodation provided by tertiary institutions in suburbs near colleges was well-controlled and managed, with appropriate security, the opposite was the case with private student accommodation.
Patel said he had recently battled to sell a business property in Clarke Road, after the area became “infested with prostitutes”.
Next door, two buildings had been converted into hostel-type dwellings.
“It's hard to say how many tenants stay there,” said Patel. He said some developers bypassed town planning regulations by registering properties as single family homes but letting them out as multiple units.
“Nothing stops you from having a bathroom attached to every room in your home, so this loophole also gets used,” said Patel.
Dunkley said for most people, the biggest investment they ever make was in buying a home.
“But now the value of your house depreciates because of all this. People and students need place to live, so it's a problem we need to solve using proper town planning and land use regulations,” he said.
Residents in Somerset Avenue, near Davenport Square, Durban, have complained that the eThekwini municipality did not provide adequate opportunity to object to plans for three low-cost, high-density complexes in the one-way street.
While eThekwini municipality has declined to comment on this, the project's architect, Graham Braum, said the developments fell in line with existing town planning regulations.
“Even if we have 1000 objections, it will still go through,” said Braum. “We are trying to convince people that these are not hostels. We have also given an affidavit to the local councillor stating it is designed to accommodate working class people.”
Braum said each site in Somerset Avenue would have a triple-storey complex, comprising 30 bachelor units with a small communal lounge and cooking area on each floor. Provision has only been made for seven parking bays on each of the three properties.
The development has ignited the ire of local residents, including B&B owner Sakkie Hattingh, who fears that development will degrade the neighbourhood and adversely affect tourism revenue.
