A new provincial housing market study has found a severe shortage of affordable homes across the Western Cape.
Properties below R900,000 are becoming increasingly scarce.
CapeTalk’s John Maytham spoke to Tertuis Simmers, the Western Cape Provincial Minister of Infrastructure.
Simmers regards ‘affordable’ as units between R600,000 and R900,000. “Which means that the affordable salary bracket that you focus on is between R22,000 and R28,500.”
He said his department has initiated two studies thus far to determine, per municipality, the level of affordability, as each municipality differs.
“So that is the normative figure which we have seen.
“We have also then assessed what is, according to the banking system, the salary bandwidth to gain you access to ownership.”
Simmers said the national policy sets it at R22,000. “And it’s been like that for more than a decade. Whereas the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Government, through my department, have always said, look, we concur with FNB’s independent study, which says no, it’s actually up to about R28,500.
“You need to up your quantum definition if you want to actually address the need for affordable housing effectively through policies and through regulations.”
Tertius noted that a one-bedroom, entry-level flat is well over R1.2 million.
“The private sector, which has been driving up, in certain instances, the cost of units that they produce, sadly, does then tip the scales and widen the gap of affordability.
What role does the provincial government have to play?
Simmers said that what is within the powers of the Western Cape Government, and through his department, together with the Department of Local Government, is to look at how they can ease the planning processes and the regulatory time frames.
“How do we utilise state-owned land for public good?
“But also, how do we ease the regulatory space to start partnering with the private sector, which is what we’ve been embarking on for the last two to three years,” he said.
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