Questions mount on when Cape Town’s promised affordable housing policy will be tabled

In November 2019, Mayco Member for Human Settlements Malusi Booi said the City of Cape Town was committed to drafting a policy for “inclusionary housing”. Three years later, the policy is yet to be tabled.

The City of Cape Town told GroundUp that Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has “reviewed the policy work done to date in the City after taking office in November 2021, and has tasked officials to conduct further reviews in order to finalise the most feasible inclusionary housing policy for Cape Town”.

“It is vital that any policy works well in practice and takes into account the feedback of the development fraternity,” said the City.

An “inclusionary housing policy” would oblige property developers to include affordable housing units in housing developments.

Last week, housing activist group Ndifuna Ukwazi launched a report, titled Regulating the Private Sector. In it, the researchers make an urgent call for the City to complete and implement an Inclusionary Housing Policy.

According to the report, the City has a shortfall of about 23,000 formal homes per year.

“While 76% of Cape Town’s population earn below R22,000 per month, only 34% of all formal homes cater to households in this income range,” the report says.

“There is clearly a significant mismatch between what people earn and how much homes cost,” it says.

Meanwhile, at a provincial level, the Western Cape government passed its Inclusionary Housing Policy Framework on 4 November. It aims to assist municipalities, working in partnership with the private sector, to include more affordable housing units in developments in urban centres.