No RDP houses for now: Experts say government is deepening an existing housing crisis

Millions of South Africans who have been on waiting lists for years to be allocated formal housing, will now have to wait even longer, which will in turn escalate their suffering in already dire living conditions. This is the opinion of two housing experts, after the national housing department recently decided to cancel certain existing housing contracts and to not approve any new projects.

Government’s decision to cancel some existing housing contracts, and to not implement new projects, will undoubtedly be to the detriment of millions of people who are waiting for formal housing, according to Quinton Adams, also affectionately known as ‘The Shack Builder’ in the Western Cape.

Prof Juaneé Cilliers from the department of urban housing and development at the North-West University, said the current backlog in housing is to such an extent that “the situation might very well explode”, considering the department’s decision.

It was announced this week that the national housing department decided that the current economic climate renders the delivery of housing as not fiscally viable. The department ascribes the decision to the recession and the Covid-19 pandemic which led to a nationwide lockdown.

The decision means that provincial departments of human settlements are no longer able to build new houses in terms of the rebuilding and development project (RDP). The national housing department declined every business plan from provinces for 2021 in this regard.

The move is in direct contrast to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s promise to focus on social infrastructure in the coming months and years. Izak du Plessis asked Adams and Cilliers to comment on this development and compiled the following report.

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