Citizens Corner: Social Housing

The Talking Point

Millions of South Africans are struggling to get home financing to afford an entry level home (R300 000) and few can get acces to home financing. Furthermore, there is a backlog of over 2 million homes on the RDP programme list.

Some experts and civil society organizations believe that Social Housing should be considered as an intervention that may be able to help bridge the gap for first-time homeowners and provide safe housing opportunities for low-income earners in urban areas. However, many challenges stand in the way of this intervention addressing spatial redress: the slow release of public landifor construction, insufficient grant allocation & rising costs of construction. Some academics have found new data tools to help identify the impact of social housing by making project information more accessible. In this hour, we look at the impact a lack of housing has on dignity and how we can get create inclusive cities.

Guest: Prof Ivan Turok - Distinguished Research Fellow in the Equitable Education and Economies (EEE) research division of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)

Guest: Thapelo Mohapi - Abahlali baseMjondolo

Guest: Disha Govender - Head of Ndifuna Ukwazi Law Centre