Another year has passed, and the housing list continues to grow.
And for those waiting for the provision of social housing by the government, the announcement of a release of certain portions of lands in Woodstock and Salt River by the City of Cape Town heralded mixed feelings this year.
Gentrification and rising rentals pushed families out of the inner city and many families found homes in empty provincial or City-owned properties. The hardship brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic also forced those living in backyards onto City-owned land to build new informal settlements.
The housing backlog in Cape Town is estimated to be just over half a million, and by the officials’ admission, it would take more than 30 years to reduce it.
To tackle the problem, the City unveiled its land release programme for affordable housing at its Housing Indaba in April and an R2.8 billion three-year budget to address housing challenges.
But talks of plans mean very little for those still battling for decent housing in the metro.
“Efforts to confront and redress apartheid spatial planning by the Patricia de Lille administration came to an abrupt halt after she resigned as mayor in 2018. For two years, there was no progress,“ said Bevil Lucas, a resident at the old Woodstock Hospital.
“With a new mayor, there seems to be a stronger push for social housing, which is good. But we still have reservations about how that will be implemented.”
Lucas is one of the thousands in South Africa who occupied land and houses owned by the state this year, as many believed it was the only alternative to the government’s failure (in all spheres) to provide housing.
Lucas is also a member of Reclaim The City, an activist organisation that wants apartheid spatial policies to be addressed
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Non-governmental organisations working for change in Cape Town’s urban development have also described 2022 as a year of progress in housing and land rights.
“After years of advocacy, political and protest actions and relentless pressure, we are starting to see a shifting tide in Cape Town,” said Ndifuna Ukwazi’s executive director, Adi Kumar.
Kumar described the release of the land parcels for social housing as a “historic moment” and one that his organisation and others had been calling for for years.
While the City has been lauded, Lucas remained sceptical over the lack of detail about how he would benefit from the social housing in the Woodstock building.
“While there’s this grand plan to provide social housing, there’s no detail being shared on how it will benefit low-income groups... no details on the accessibility and affordability of the units. So, for example, suppose I get contracted as an Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) worker for six months and after that (I get) no other income for an extended period. In that case, the possibility of being homeless again becomes real.”
While Lucas and Reclaim the City have been waiting to be part of the “City’s table” to discuss their future, they have been engaging with surrounding communities on reimagining the neighbourhoods.
“We are not waiting for authorities to make those determinations. We are taking proactive steps, and we hope that we will be able to present a plan to them.”
At the Housing Indaba, mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said the City was working to simplify land release processes, including discounting land released for housing and other social purposes.
He said there were more than 6 500 social housing units in the pipeline across 50 land parcels citywide, including the central Cape Town and the Voortrekker Road Corridor.
The main areas for the projected housing include Maitland, Pine Road and Dillon Road in Woodstock, and the Salt River Market.
Other projects undergoing land use management processes for social housing include sites close to New Market Street, Pickwick Street, and the old Woodstock Hospital precinct.
Other housing projects driven by the provincial government include the Conradie Park development in Pinelands and Founders’ Garden in the CBD.
Amid the long wait for housing, a new phenomenon of small-scale private rental housing is growing fast in the townships.
Driven chiefly by entrepreneurs who have responded to the growing demand for affordable and inclusionary housing, the micro developers built double-storey units they rented out.
The rapid growth has led to the establishment of the Township Developers Forum of Western Cape (TDFoWC), whose founders say their significant challenges include the lack of financing, zoning issues, limited capacity of bulk infrastructure and access to land.
The forum’s chairperson, Lisolethu Ntoyakhe, called on the City to set clear policies regarding the small-scale rental sector, adding that the finance sector’s “hands-off approach” to these developments didn’t work.
“Loans in this space should come with a package of project management support, the costs of which must be included in the project costs,” Ntoyakhe said.
Helen Rourke, a programme director at the Development Action Group (DAG), believed that strong messages of hope emerged in 2022, along with acknowledging micro developers' role in the sector.
“We’ve got a lot to celebrate in terms of shifting the conversation around cities in South Africa. There is now a great deal of alignment towards growing the affordable housing market and driving it post Covid-19.
“But even in a city like Cape Town that is changing its mindset, a strong and united political commitment towards land-use planning is required."
Kumar echoed Rourke’s sentiment shared Rourke's opinion noting that while the provincial government approved the inclusionary housing policy, the City was still dragging its feet in developing one.
“In the past years we have shown how the impact of such a policy could have provided close to 650 affordable units,” Kumar said.
Weekend Argus