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Hundreds of thousands of homeowners do not have title deeds
By Noah Schermbrucker, Victoria Mdzanga and Christine Botha 6 June 2017 In Tsime Street, Vukuzenzele, 31 happy faces are peeking through the window of a bright red house which is currently registered with the Western Cape Government as Imizamoyethu Educare Crèche. Nomakhaya, the owner, takes pride in caring for ...
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Water Saving Through Subsidy Housing Construction
Opinion piece by Christine Botha on behalf of People’s Environmental Planning Days of water left:100 Last month of water supply: June Current useable water in our dams in the Western Cape: 17,3% In the light of the current drought The City of Cape Town has urged residents to reduce ...
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Are Planning and Land-use Management Policies in Cape Town Inherently Anti-Poor?
Noah Schermbrucker on behalf of People’s Environmental Planning (Opinion Piece): In the last few years a number of flash points have highlighted the unequal ways in which Cape Town continues to develop. Examples include the proposed eviction of tenants in Woodstock and the Council flats which, adjacent to De ...
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Youth Workshops in Vukuzenzele
Nick Talbot on behalf of People’s Environmental Planning. Over the last 5 years PEP has provided socio-technical support to the residents of Vukuzenzele in order to facilitate the transfer of title of 236 houses to their respective owners. This was achieved through a close working relationship with the local committee ...
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The Giving Tree installed in Phola Park – A photo Essay
Earlier this year, PEP was contacted by 2 independent designers about a ‘place-making’ intervention they had developed, called The Giving Tree. The Giving Tree project is a incremental upgrading and service delivery scheme that focuses on developing a small scale, cost effective, prefabricated water platform and place-making intervention. The ...
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CONTRADICTIONS BETWEEN POLICY AND PRACTICE: Challenges in Providing Low-Income Housing in Cape Town
Noah Schermbrucker on behalf of People’s Environmental Planning 15 June 2016: A cursory analysis of current National Housing Policy indicates, at least in writing, a will to redress spatial inequality through the provision of well-located opportunities (green-field and in-situ) for the urban poor. Numerous statements, housed in a variety ...
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How the Nimby Factor Impedes Equal Housing Opportunities in Cape Town
This short opinion piece uses the example of the Ruo Emoh (Our Home spelt backwards) Housing Project to argue that the NIMBY (Not in my backyard) factor is extremely detrimental to equal housing development in Cape Town, South Africa. It provides a summary history of the project and the ...
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Participtory based Planning for Upgrading of Informal Settlments
PEP has always advocated the incremental upgrading of well-located informal settlements, instead of greenfield housing developments in the urban peripheries. It is encouraging to see the slow shift of government policy, especially at National level, towards upgrading of informal settlements. The National Upgrading Support Programme (NUSP) is such initiative. ...
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Addressing the ‘Chronic’ Housing Shortage in South Africa
The Gaps in the Housing Finance Policy Regardless of government and others efforts over the past two decades, South Africa continues to face significant challenges in assisting the poor in access to a decent house and basic services. According to current estimates, the housing backlog stands at about 2.1 ...
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