Evaluating social housing intervention strategies in a South African municipality : with particular reference to the city of Cape Town (research findings)

Abstract

According to the Department of Human Settlement Annual Report (2010:5) accelerating the delivery of housing opportunities by 2014 by providing proper basic services and land tenure to households currently living in informal settlements, is the government’s mandate that must be realised. Following this objective, the Western Cape devised strategies to accelerate housing delivery and service improvement in the informal areas. For example, an Integrated Human Settlement Plan was developed to contextualise the City of Cape Town’s strategy for the provision of equitable and affordable shelter to all, (City of Cape Town Service Delivery Report 2005/6:177). This plan sparked the development of a City-wide Spatial Development Plan, involving various role players and integrated planning processes. The Five Year Integrated Housing Plan, (2007/8 – 2011/12:7) recognises this as it argues that the City of Cape Town’s objective is accelerating housing provision and ensuring that land utilisation is well planned, managed and monitored. To achieve all this on a broader scale, the City has adopted the national Breaking New Ground plan (BNG) for the development of sustainable human settlements and has also aligned itself with the Provincial Government’s Western Cape Sustainable Human Settlement Strategy called ‘Isidima’, (Five Year Integrated Housing Plan, 2007/8 – 2011/12: 7). According to the Five Year Integrated Housing Plan (2007/8 – 2011/12:7), these two instruments are a shift from traditional approaches to the holistic provision of housing, with the aim of developing and improving integrated human settlements. Despite these joint initiatives, it appears that Cape Town is still experiencing a huge housing backlog. This could be blamed on the failure to plan for migration into the Western Cape. This article, examines the extent to which the housing intervention strategies are effective in dealing with the housing dilemma in Cape Town.