Cape Town - As the Western Cape grapples to meet the rapid need for housing, authorities acknowledged it would need about R80 billion to build homes and eradicate the current housing backlog.
According to the Western Cape human settlements department, the housing backlog in the province stood at 575 000, while the City of Cape Town said there were 320 146 people on its database who were still waiting for houses.
Faced with growing criticism about the slow pace of providing houses, the City announced this week that it would provide close to 750 housing opportunities for social housing in Woodstock and Salt River and construction was expected to start once the necessary statutory requirements were completed and a public participation process had been followed.
The proposed development in Woodstock’s Pine and Dillon streets will afford owners a selection of studio, one and two bedroom units, while the one in Salt River market would include retail and office space.
Mayoral committee member for transport and urban development, Brett Herron, said clear time frames with regards to construction and completion of the projects would only be announced once the processes had been concluded, although efforts to expedite the project’s deadlines were being made.
Other plans to ease the backlog and provide housing included developing an inner city transitional housing project in Salt River at a cost of R11 million.
The plan was subject to council approval on July 27.
Herron said the development of the sites would be undertaken by accredited social housing institutions, either on their own, or in partnership with developers from the private sector.
He also said allocation of houses would be done according to its housing database in order to ensure a fair and systematic process.
The City housing allocation policy makes provision for qualifying applicants who live in any given area to be considered for housing opportunities in housing projects across the city. So while some could be applicants who were registered on a housing database in an area where development was being undertaken, qualifying applicants residing outside of the boundaries could also be drawn.
“This is to make the allocation of housing opportunities fair and equitable for all applicants on the database, irrespective of the area in which they reside,” Herron added.
Some residents claimed they had been on the housing waiting list for over 30 years and feared that they might never be afforded a decent home.
Herron claimed there were only 34 people who had been registered with the housing database up to 1980 and they all wanted houses in very specific areas where the City did not have projects or any planned for the near future.
“The City is making every effort to try and meet the growing demand for housing while dealing with factors such as land invasions, availability of appropriate land to deliver large-scale subsidised human settlements developments, as well as community dynamics and budget constraints, which have an impact on the provision of housing opportunities,” he said.
The Western Cape human settlements department is planning to provide just over 11 000 housing opportunities in the current financial year on a budget of R2.5bn.
“We can only assist 18 000 families per year on the current budget and will need more than R80bn to service the current backlog,” the department said.
To address the dire housing need - the City needs to provide an additional 650 000 housing opportunities over the next 20 years.
Herron said this would require “a radical shift in financing and planning strategies” and the City would also have to find additional and alternative funding resources.
However, the City came under fire from the national Department of Human Settlements for its inability to use all of the development grant it received.
The city receives 70% of the provincial urban settlement development grant.
Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu is involved in a dispute with the province over its decision to sell the Tafelberg site in Sea Point, which it wanted to be used for social and affordable housing.