Cape Town's housing crisis: Lobby groups say there is a lack of progress, City disagrees

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20-07-2023
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News 24
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Thousands of social housing projects are in the pipeline, according to the City of Cape Town.

Housing lobby groups accused the City of making no progress in developing affordable social housing.

The City said several social housing opportunities in the inner city were at an advanced stage of development.

In an attempt to put paid to claims of not prioritising affordable housing, the City of Cape Town said 6 500 citywide social housing opportunities were in the works.

Housing lobby groups Ndifuna Ukwazi and Reclaim the City said that, after an annual review of the City's commitment to delivering houses, they had noted a concerning lack of progress.

Ndifuna Ukwazi said that, in July 2017, the City announced the proposed development of social housing on 11 parcels of public land in Woodstock, Salt River and the inner city.

Ndifuna Ukwazi said all 11 pieces of land were still standing vacant, with no development taking place.

"The lack of implementation is appalling and unacceptable. After six years, we are yet to see the beginning of the construction of even a single social housing unit implemented in the inner City," Ndifuna Ukwazi said.

"While the mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, has announced the release of land in the council, this has little material impact on people's lives until the homes are built," said Robyn Park-Ross, a researcher for Ndifuna Ukwazi.

The lack of progress, the organisation says, contributes to poor and working class people being pushed out of well-located areas.

The City, however, said that, in the inner-city alone, more than 1 300 social housing opportunities were at advanced stages of development, with delivery already taking place at sites in Maitland, Pinelands and central Cape Town. Other sites, in other areas, were in the pipeline.

The acting mayoral committee member for human settlements, James Vos, pointed out that a range of statutory, regulatory and feasibility hurdles affected the release of land for affordable housing.

Vos said:

The City has acquired more than 900ha of land for the City's integrated human settlements development purposes. In the first five months of our mayoral programme for accelerated land release, five inner-city land parcels, with a planned total of over 1 300 housing units, reached critical land release milestones.

Hill-Lewis announced the programme last year, which is aimed at fast-tracking the release of state land for affordable housing. 

Vos pointed out that building hijacking, "as we have seen in Woodstock and Sea Point, for example", and other challenges affected what the City was trying to do.

"The City is aiming to unlock social housing at Woodstock Hospital, which is the biggest social housing project in the inner city," he said.

Park-Ross agreed that proper legal processes for the release of land needed to be followed, but said more urgency to deliver was necessary.

"The celebration before the council and in the City's media releases is not matched by action in ensuring that the proposed developments materialise. To make matters worse, many of the projects were first proposed in the mid-2000s, again demonstrating a profound lack of urgency," she said.

Reclaim the City and Ndifuna Ukwazi demanded that the City urgently deliver affordable housing in well-located areas to accommodate people who could otherwise not afford to live close to jobs, schools, hospitals and other services.

"Ultimately, we are calling for all spheres of government to undo the legacy of spatial apartheid."