Winde tells Court no affordable housing project completed in Cape Town CBD since 2017

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde has told the Western Cape High Court that several social and affordable housing projects are at different stages of planning, while acknowledging that no affordable housing project has been completed in the Cape Town CBD since 2017. 

Winde revealed this in an affidavit submitted to the high court as part of the report required in compliance with the order of the Constitutional Court in the Tafelberg matter.

Nine social-housing projects in the pipeline

He said nine social housing projects were in the pipeline on provincial government land in the CBD while the City of Cape Town reported 14 sites were released and an additional 39 parcels of land were being packaged or were in the process of being released, including 11 in the CBD. 

Winde named the planned social housing projects as Founders Garden, Leeulop, PPTL, Tafelberg, Mandarin Court, Helen Bowden, Oude Moulen, Conradie Park Phase 3 and Maitland – 2 Long Street – which are all at different stages for approval.

Tafelberg case at the centre of court report

His report was in compliance with the July judgment by the Constitutional Court that found the City and the Western Cape government failed to comply with their constitutional obligation to redress spatial injustice by providing well-located social and/or affordable housing in the Cape Town CBD.

In his affidavit, Winde took issue that the court held the view that the provincial government and the City should have redirected funding for affordable housing in the CBD and Sea Point.

He also noted that the court had stated that if there were budgetary constraints, the province should consider appropriate steps to address such as applying to the Human Settlements Minister for budget allocation.

“The distribution of funds by the national government to the provinces is governed by national legislation. It is strictly based on a formula, largely determined by census information regarding the population of each province,” he said, adding that the minister lacked the power to make ad hoc budgetary allocation to particular provinces.

Winde challenges court’s funding view

However, Winde said funding for social housing by the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA) was not determined by a formula.

“The unfortunate result is that the SHRA’s funding of social housing is completely imbalanced. It has significantly favoured one province, Gauteng, over all the other provinces, and has not favoured the Western Cape. Its justification for this does not withstand scrutiny.”

Winde said although the Western Cape has extremely limited resources of revenue to plug the hole, it has increasingly begun to develop affordable housing.

“The Western Cape Government has been leveraging its land by ‘packaging’ it for disposal to private developers, having obtained all the requisite planning and other statutory approvals. 

“The land is disposed of on condition that a portion of the site be developed as affordable housing. The affordable housing component is then part-subsidised by the developer.”

Housing groups criticise government plans

He told the court that they were preparing all the few undeveloped sites for affordable housing.

These include Schotschekloof, Tamboerkloof, Oranjezicht, Salt River, and six sites in Mowbray.

Lobby groups Ndifuna Ukwazi and Reclaim the City said they noted the reports by the City and the provincial government.

Ndifuna Ukwazi’s head of political organising Buhle Booi said the reports were disappointing but not surprising as they showed organised hypocrisy rather than genuine spatial integration.

Booi added that the City was redefining “affordable” by pivoting from social housing to affordable housing under the Financial Sector Code’s standard.

“A pivot of this kind prices out most of the people the Court’s order is meant to serve, and it risks releasing public land to the private market with no way to control how it is used,” she said.

Cape Argus