Western Cape Premier Alan Winde has informed the Western Cape High Court that several social and affordable housing projects are at different stages of planning. However, he acknowledged that no affordable housing project has been completed in the Cape Town CBD since 2017. This revelation was made in an affidavit submitted to the high court as part of the report required in compliance with the order of the Constitutional Court in the Tafelberg matter.
Winde's report highlighted that nine social housing projects are in the pipeline on provincial government land in the CBD. The City of Cape Town reported 14 sites were released and an additional 39 parcels of land were being packaged or were in the process of being released, including 11 in the CBD. The planned social housing projects include Founders Garden, Leeulop, PPTL, Tafelberg, Mandarin Court, Helen Bowden, Oude Moulen, Conradie Park Phase 3, and Maitland - 2 Long Street.
Winde's report was in compliance with the July judgment by the Constitutional Court that found the City and the Western Cape government failed to comply with their constitutional obligation to redress spatial injustice by providing well-located social and/or affordable housing in the Cape Town CBD. The court had ordered the provincial government and the City to provide a report on their progress in addressing this issue.
In his affidavit, Winde took issue with the court's view that the provincial government and the City should have redirected funding for affordable housing in the CBD and Sea Point. He noted that the court had stated that if there were budgetary constraints, the province should consider appropriate steps to address such as applying to the Human Settlements Minister for budget allocation.
Winde challenged the court's funding view, stating that the distribution of funds by the national government to the provinces is governed by national legislation and is strictly based on a formula, largely determined by census information regarding the population of each province. He added that the minister lacked the power to make ad hoc budgetary allocation to particular provinces.
However, Winde said funding for social housing by the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA) was not determined by a formula. He stated that the SHRA's funding of social housing is completely imbalanced, significantly favouring Gauteng over all other provinces, including the Western Cape. Winde noted that the Western Cape government has been leveraging its land by 'packaging' it for disposal to private developers, having obtained all the requisite planning and other statutory approvals.
Housing groups, including Ndifuna Ukwazi and Reclaim the City, have criticised the government plans, stating that they are disappointing but not surprising. They showed organised hypocrisy rather than genuine spatial integration. The groups noted that the City was redefining "affordable" by pivoting from social housing to affordable housing under the Financial Sector Code's standard, which prices out most of the people the Court's order is meant to serve.
Key points
- No affordable housing project has been completed in Cape Town's CBD since 2017.
- Nine social housing projects are in the pipeline on provincial government land in the CBD.
- The Western Cape government has been leveraging its land to develop affordable housing.
