About 7 200 homes will be built within five years for families living in shacks along the N2 highway between the Cape Town International Airport and the CBD.
And 2 800 more homes are to be provided for families now living on swamp land and rubbish dumps, and who will have to be relocated to nearby land.
This is part of the new national housing plan which will be implemented immediately, according to Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.
Ultimately, the housing department, along with the City of Cape Town, plans to build 10 000 homes for families living in informal settlements along the N2 strip, to be called the N2 Gateway Project.
Once the first phase of the project has been completed, at least 50 000 people will have received formal housing at a cost of R800m.
In addition, the housing department has taken under its wing the 4 000 homes to be built in District Six, which had previously been identified by the District Six Beneficiary Trust.
There are 1 500 land restitution claims still to be settled in District Six.
These were some of the matters highlighted in yesterday's parliamentary housing portfolio committee meeting attended by Sisulu and executive mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo.
Sisulu illustrated the government's new housing plan - including the N2 Gateway Project - to the committee.
The plan was tabled before the cabinet last month.
The first informal settlements along the N2 to be targeted include Joe Slovo in Langa, New Rest and Kanana in Gugulethu, Barcelona and Europe (next to the Borcherd's Quarry interchange).
Artist's impressions show four-storey complexes in Joe Slovo extending beyond the Athlone Power station. They also show that the Bunga Avenue turn-off at Langa will be extended, linking Langa to Athlone at Bridgetown.
Said Sisulu: "We want truly representative, non-racial communities."
She discounted "misconceptions" about the new housing strategy.
"It is not about building shacks right next door to multi-million rand developments. It is not about expropriating property."
Sisulu said the government would also build homes to rent.
She said about 2,4 million households were living in informal settlements nationally, while only 800 000 people were on the government's subsidy list.