Cape Town - Housing and land activists said affordable social housing and dignified living conditions could have mitigated some of the harm caused by the Covid19 pandemic.
Access to clean water and sanitation, and the ability to practise physical distancing and isolation are possible, have been instrumental in the fight against the virus.
Lobby Group STOP CoCT founder Sandra Dickson said affordable and well-planned social housing would go a long way to alleviate overcrowding in townships, particularly overcrowded backyards, where access to sanitation and water is largely inadequate.
As a result of the pandemic, Dickson claims many social projects were delayed or scaled down.
“Covid-19 and the resulting lockdowns directly resulted in the Treasury allowing municipalities to redirect almost all of their unspent budget to Covid-19-related projects. As a result, much-needed services were not put in the areas where social/low-cost housing are needed. The backlogs just keep on growing.”
About 300 000 people are on the social housing waiting list, according to Dickson.
Ndifuna Ukwazi organiser Buhle Booi said: “According to the UN Special Rapporteur on Housing, a home is a first line of defence against Covid-19. The housing crisis is a decades-old problem; it has existed long before Covid-19. Therefore, the excuse that the pandemic has affected plans of affordable housing is fallacious, because what is delaying affordable housing is the lack of political will and an absence of an inclusionary housing policy in Cape Town that will guide developments to have affordable housing.”
Urban planner, development economist and researcher at UCT Cecil Madell said the assumption that plans for affordable housing will be slowed down or reduced due to the pandemic was problematic as such plans were not intended by the state even before the onset of Covid-19.
“The only arena where social housing is still being considered is with major private sector and inner city projects and where affordable housing activists are advocating that a percentage be included with land-use approvals.”
Mayco member for Human Settlements Malusi Booi said the City has spent almost all of its housing budget for the previous year, and although timelines had been impacted, most work was on track.
The Human Settlements Directorate spent 98% of its Urban Settlements Development Grant capital budget in the 2019/20 financial year.
“Clearly, the City is spending the money where it is required. But, due to the state of the national government, financial resources are limited, and national budget cuts have been made to housing in general,” said Booi.
“There are no direct national government budget cuts for the affordable housing projects that the City is driving. However, there have been substantial national government budget cuts for housing and human settlements.
“Human settlements delivery is beset with challenges, including R1.3 billion in housing projects under threat from ongoing orchestrated land invasions, national government budget cuts reducing our Urban Settlements Development Grant by R118 million, a weak national economy and regulatory red tape,” said Booi.
Cape Argus