South Africa: Joburg's Upper Houghton Mansions 'Now Slumlord Dumps' - Government Admits Failure

By Anna Cox

The Joburg heritage area of Upper Houghton is facing severe pressure as historic homes are being vandalised, occupied and falling into disrepair.

Young Avenue, bordering Bellevue East in Upper Houghton, was once a quiet, well-maintained residential street, but slumlords, the neglect of the Department of Public Works and the City of Johannesburg's failures are fast turning the area into a dumping ground for overcrowded and poorly managed properties, with mansions being turned into high-density rental dumps.

Upper Houghton was declared a national heritage area in 2010. Young Avenue serves as a buffer between Upper Houghton and Bellevue East and is increasingly vulnerable to overcrowding, illegal service connections and unmanaged properties.

A Daily Maverick investigation reveals how two large state-owned properties have been left to slide into ruin, creating conditions that have opened the door for wealthy slumlords to move into the area, buy up large multi-room houses and profit off people desperate for accommodation.

As new owners buy up the old mansions and allegedly allow a large number of tenants to move in, residents say there's little they can do except monitor and report illegal connections.

Over the years, the Department of Public Works abandoned two large properties -- 17 Young Avenue/6 Acorn Lane and 35 Young Avenue.

The former was once the Transkei Consulate. The Yeoville Police Station moved its detective...

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