R3.3 billion – that’s the figure that’s been allocated to how much the City of Cape Town (COCT) will set aside in addressing the Cape’s housing crisis.
‘The housing crisis’ naturally relates directly to the ‘homeless problem’ in the Cape peninsula – something that’s spiralled for the worst in the past two years as a result of the pandemic. Even before the pandemic’s full effect, there were around 14,000 people sleeping on our city’s streets- and the number is realistically far more. It’s a socio-economic issue that has been plaguing South Africa, and the Western Cape in particular, for quite some time now, so the allocation of funds for many sounds promising.
Malusi Booi, the mayoral committee member for human settlements expressed the breakdown of the financing as follows ( as per News24) :
R2 billion is set to focus on formal housing while R1.3 billion will look at informal housing and new accommodation.
However, how the projects will tackle the pertinent challenges related to housing development in South Africa, is still speculative.
It’s Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis’ conviction regarding the matter that provides an added spark of hope beyond budget announcements, writes Cape {town} Etc’s Ashleigh Nefdt. Our new mayor has expressed that he is an avid proponent of wanting to alleviate the struggle. Before his election as Cape Town’s mayor, the problem of housing in Cape Town was something he noted needed far greater attention. He further promised to be an instrument of change in light of it.
Hill-Lewis touched on the challenges to do with housing in the Cape in an article he wrote published by the Daily Maverick. He conveyed frustration from a place of experience in projects of this nature, in reference to one of his former positions as a partner in a small property start-up that tried to build more homes for Capetonians
Some of the challenges he mentioned included: regulatory red tape, the national government’s hold on land and limited private investorship.
In terms of solutions, Hill-Lewis noted micro developers, private investors, more city-owned land and the reallocation of properties used freely by state officials to become homes for the people instead – something Patricia De Lille, the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure and leader of the political party Good, contested.
In relaying a sort of paradox that is both a problem and a solution, Hill-lewis noted another element to do with housing, in that the Cape Peninsula doesn’t have a shortage of land, but it is how this land is occupied/ owned that creates the double-edged sword.
Putting two-and-two together, it’s likely that some of these solutions (like micro-developers) will form part of paving the way forward. However, the public will watch avidly and hopefully to see if the proof is indeed in the property-development pudding.
It could be a promise, it could very well be wishful thinking – but at the very least we have some sort of accountability as a result of Hill-Lewis’s hands-on demeanour.
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Picture: Lifetreat.co.za