10 November 2022
“Regulating the Private Sector: Case Studies in Inclusionary Housing Developments in Cape Town”, is a report which documents and draws out learnings from NU’s five-year experience of advocating for inclusionary housing through the Municipal Planning Tribunal in the City of Cape Town from early 2017 through to August 2022.
The report details the strategies NU has employed to identify exclusive developments in order to advocate for more affordable and spatially just housing in Cape Town. Whilst there are many global tools to manage exclusionary land markets including rent control, housing allowances and rent supplements, and various ways of taxation – land value tax, vacant land tax, tax incentives and abatements, and foreign purchases and multiple property taxes etc, inclusionary housing is most applicable, needed and situated within our historical and legislated frameworks.
Click here for the Executive Summary.
Click here for the Full Report.
Statement by James Wilson, CEO of the Amdec Group
Among the many socio-economic challenges faced by South Africa, the backlog in the provision of affordable housing for lower-income earners is particularly worrying. Government has simply not been able to meet the need for affordable housing, which means that private property developers will need to step into the breach to deliver affordable housing projects.
As a proudly South African company, the Amdec Group is deeply committed to redressing the injustices of the past, which is why we voluntarily elected to incorporate affordable housing at our Harbour Arch mixed-use development on Cape Town’s Foreshore. Tower One, currently under construction, offers 82 apartments for rental on floors 2 to 7. Future phases at Harbour Arch will also incorporate inclusionary housing.
In addition, the Amdec Group is developing an affordable housing estate in Ottery, Cape Town, which will accommodate around 2000 previously disadvantaged families. Construction will commence at Golden Grove Estate later this year.
An affordable housing scheme on Corlett Drive outside Melrose Arch is also in the planning phase, with 800 apartments.
To better service the affordable housing sector, the Amdec Group has established an inhouse affordable housing division which will be responsible for building, owning, operating, and managing our affordable housing stock in perpetuity to ensure that housing is made available to those who need it most. We are engaging with multiple industry experts in the fields of affordable, social, and subsistence housing with a view obtaining the insight and guidance necessary to develop innovative solutions to the national housing crisis.
We recognise that we cannot resolve all of our country’s economic inequalities, but working alongside local government and various activist groups, we can deliver high quality affordable housing and innovative self-build solutions to a market that is woefully under-supplied.
