SA Affordable Housing January - February 2019 // Issue: 74 | Page 5

NEWS
Battle for an
affordable Cape Town
Recent controversy surrounding Cape Town’s ex-mayor and
an ex-DA member has exposed a lack of priority for the City’s
affordable housing sector.
I
n late 2018 the DA’s near constant troubles with former
Cape Town mayor Patricia De Lille has had a side effect
– it laid bare the city’s lack of inner-city development in
affordable housing and thrust the gentrification of the
city’s suburbs into the spotlight.
As a parting shot to her former party, De Lille claims
affordable housing has not been prioritised in the city.
“Under my leadership, we released 11 pieces of (public-
owned) land in Salt River, Woodstock and the city centre.
And those people, opponents against integration,
mobilised other councillors to block all of these projects. I
have done nothing wrong, neither has councillor Brett
Herron,” says De Lille.
Brett Herron had resigned his position as mayoral
committee member for urban development a week earlier
under a cloud of controversy claiming that he was
resigning as a cabal within the DA was blocking the
construction of affordable housing at the available Salt
River Market site. A few weeks later he doubled down
claiming that building on a second site had also been
disrupted.
“The Green Point recreation site has been identified for
another mixed-use, mixed-income development, including
affordable housing. There is a fantastic development
scheme that is in the planning stage for this site. However,
that cabal is blocking the progress of that project, too,” he