Cape Town - The DA-led provincial government has come under fire from housing activists and opposition parties, following the launch of its “Better Living Challenge” project, which provides tutorials for informal settlement residents to improve the building of their shacks.
The project has been slammed as an insult to black and poor people, as the provincial government has yet to help build affordable housing, in well located land in the city.
A post promoting the project reads: “Are you an informal settlement resident looking to improve the building structure of your home? The Western Cape Department of Human Settlements’ ’Better Living Challenge’ project provides self-build skills and knowledge.''
The promo provides tutorial videos, to informal settlement residents, on how to build structures – including double storeys.
Ndifuna Ukwazi's head of political organising Buhle Booi said both the city and province should not romanticise shack dwelling, but find sustainable solutions for informal households, and provide decent and dignified homes.
“It is not the desire of poor working class families to live and die in unserviced informal settlements. Families have fallen between the cracks of the failed housing delivery programme and they have spent decades on the waiting list for decent housing, hence dwelling in informal settlements,” said Booi.
Booi said informality should not be condemned due to the housing challenges, but neither should it be perpetuated.
“The province should prioritise exploring habitable, safe and dignified housing technologies, in conjunction with communities. We are already witnessing community-led initiatives that are working towards sustainable housing, that will add value to their areas and their posterity. Dignity is a human right. Housing is a human right. We encourage the province to value its citizens,” he said.
Good secretary-general Brett Herron said if the intention was to assist families to avoid flooding and other hazards, it was commendable.
“However, the department is also exposing itself, and its leadership, as out of touch with the reality of poverty and the role of opportunity, in how and where a shack is constructed. The model in the photograph assumes access to financial resources that the majority of people won’t have. The irony is that the “better living” challenge seems to just give up on better housing,” said Herron.
The project indicated a policy shift, not in line with amended National Housing Policy, from building decent housing for the poor to building decent shacks, said ANC leader of the opposition in the legislature Cameron Dugmore.
“The ANC has noted, with shock and dismay, the announcement of the ’Better Living Challenge’ by the Western Cape Government. It is a disgraceful policy by the DA regime, an explicit display of paternalism and contempt – for the poor and marginalised – by the DA and a demonstration of what the party thinks of poor people,” said Dugmore.
Dugmore said it was the antithesis of what the Freedom Charter and many national government policies seek to achieve, which is “the abolishment of slums and building of decent housing for the people”.
The provincial Human Settlements Department's Nathan Adriaanse said the initiative was in no way intended to encourage the establishment of informal areas, but to assist residents, often living in unsafe conditions, to improve the quality of their homes.
“Residents living in formal areas may not necessarily understand the everyday challenges of living in an informal area. Many informal settlement residents expressed the need and preference for a piece of land that they own, with access to basic services, so they can attend to their own building.
“This initiative was created based on feedback and input from informal settlement communities, and in response to their requests and needs. Many have found it very useful and we, thus, wanted to assist as many as possible, with similar challenges, to – at the very least – build a safer structure,” said Adriaanse.
He said no budget has been allocated to the building of the structures and the initiative does not provide building materials.
“The department has filmed these videos at the beginning of certain community meetings and at the commencement of Project Steering Committee (PSC) meetings, which includes community representation and leadership. The initiative has also assisted informal settlement stakeholders, including NGOs, to capacitate communities on the building tutorials,” Adriaanse said.
Black People National Crisis Committee (BPNCC) spokesperson Songezo Mazizi said they rejected the “Better Living Challenge” project as promoting more shacks around the province, instead of building quality houses for people.
“The Western Cape government undermines the poor and it's an insult to promote the notion that staying in a shack is acceptable. The DA-run province has no plan in addressing the housing backlog,” said Mazizi.
Provincial EFF chairperson Melikhaya Xego said the project was “a glorification of peoples' poverty” because there were no better living conditions in shacks.
Cape Times