The government plans to release more underutilised state properties for affordable housing development. Picture: Xabiso Mkhabela / Xinhua
The City of Cape Town and the GOOD Party have thrown their weight behind President Cyril Ramaphosa’s commitment to undoing the apartheid planning by building more housing in city centres, closer to work, and business opportunities.
Speaking during his State of the Nation Address, Ramaphosa said the practice of building housing developments on the periphery of urban centres has perpetuated inequality and urban sprawl.
“Going forward, we are going to build more housing in our city centres and closer to work and business opportunities. We are redesigning our housing subsidies and directing more funding towards programmes that enable people to buy or rent a home in an area of their choice,” he said.
Ramaphosa also said the government would release more underutilised state properties for affordable housing development.
“We are working with provinces and metros to reclaim buildings that have been hijacked in city centres and repurpose them for public use.”
He also said they would provide 300 000 serviced stands to qualifying beneficiaries to enable housing development in well-planned, connected communities along key development corridors.
“We will clear the backlog of title deeds for subsidised housing, turning homes into household assets.”
He added that the government will review land use, building, and other regulations to enable low-cost property development, including backyard housing.
“This represents a fundamental rethink of how the state delivers housing at scale while turning our cities into engines of growth and opportunity.”
The president also committed to restoring the remaining passenger rail corridors and stations to full service following more than 80% of passenger rail corridors returning to service.
Ramaphosa said Prasa has introduced over 200 modern, locally-produced trains on its network to provide a low-cost option for public transport.
“Over the next five years, we will restore Prasa’s signalling system so that we can put all our new trains to work and commuters can be assured they can reach work safely, affordably, and on time,” he said.
GOOD Party secretary-general Brett Herron said Ramaphosa’s commitment to spatial justice has their 100% support.
“He is quite correct that the state’s practice of building subsidised homes on the peripheries of town and cities perpetuates poverty and urban sprawl,” Herron said.
City of Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said the metro was encouraged by the president’s commitment to better passenger rail infrastructure and more trains in the coming years.
“In Cape Town, we have a vision to massively scale up passenger numbers, new train sets, new routes, and to upgrade stations and surrounding areas with affordable housing over the next two decades,” Hill-Lewis said.
He also said the metro will be ready this year to take over the running of passenger rail, with complete business plans in place.
“We are ready to work with the president and Prasa to revive our city’s rail network in a devolved system in line with the city’s constitutional mandate of providing an integrated public transport system. This is especially urgent for lower income households, who would save an estimated R932m a year if trains worked as they should.”
Mayor Hill-Lewis also welcomed various positive housing reforms announced by Ramaphosa, including the intention to release more well-located land, improve state subsidies for affordable housing, review building regulations to enable low-cost development, and focus on reclaiming hijacked public buildings.
“The recent undertaking by the National Government to re-commit funding to emergency housing provision is also welcomed,” he added.
mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za