The objective of this programme is to ultimately secure long term tenure rights for the landless and homeless. This programme compliments equitable access to land and resisting evictions, in ensuring that each and every citizen feels safe and secure in what they call home.
Securing tenure is also in response to millions of households that reside in precarious conditions such as informal settlements, overcrowded buildings, backyard structures and occupied buildings. Currently, most of the families living in informal settlements or other forms of occupations are in the limbo of an endless “waiting list” estimated at 2.1 million households nationally. It is currently estimated that with the resources available, it will take over a century to meet the demand, without accounting for any further growth in the number of low-income families requiring state support. A more progressive and radical approach to tenure can shift this thinking to be applied to land and buildings that have been occupied or vacant and underutilised for over twenty years. The ability to secure tenure over the long term has the potential to be a gamechanger for South Africa.