The South African Human Rights Commission’s (“the Commission”) office in the Western Cape will host a strategic stakeholder engagement with role players in the social housing sector. The aim of the engagement is to unpack issues regarding the financing, regulation, and oversight regarding social housing. 

Following the receipt and investigation of complaints relating mostly to evictions from social housing complexes, the Western Cape Provincial Office had noted that recipients of social housing had complained of financial irregularity regarding the social housing complexes in which they are housed. These irregularities related to alleged rental increases to commercial rates, which then resulted in occupants not being able to pay the rentals and then being evicted. 

To understand the full life cycle of a social housing complex, the Commission deemed it prudent to call on role players in the social housing sector to attend a stakeholder engagement where issues arising from complaints received could be interrogated. The purpose of this engagement is therefore twofold. Firstly, the engagement aims to ensure that the Commission has a full understanding of the process of financing (whether state or privately funded), understands the life cycle and regulation, so that when complaints are received it can evaluate the complaints properly. Secondly, the Commission in its advocacy needs to be well placed to inform its audience accurately regarding questions they may have.

The Commission has therefore invited the National Housing Finance Corporation, Social Housing Regulatory Authority, the Department of Human Settlements, the City of Cape Town and civil society stakeholders, the National Association of Social Housing Organisations and the Development Action Group, to join it in unpacking these critical issues. 

Social housing and rental accommodation play a crucial role in providing access to dignified housing. This is especially the case considering the huge and growing backlog on the Housing Demand Database, which is expected to exceed 600 000 this year. The engagement seeks to ensure that the Commission can play an effective role in safeguarding this important right. 

Issued by the South African Human Rights Commission