BIG READ: Microdevelopers open doors and windows for solving SA’s housing problem
Densification can deliver affordable housing close to workplaces and city resources
SA’s urban population is expanding, creating a growing need for housing. In addition, people are moving away from rural areas, where poverty and unemployment are extremely high, towards metros and cities, where there are more economic opportunities. When they get “to town”, they usually settle on the outskirts, in informal settlements or cheap rental accommodation in peripheral townships. If they qualify for government-provided RDP (Reconstruction and Development Programme) housing, they end up remaining on the outskirts of the city. The real opportunities to earn an income, however, lie elsewhere, closer to the concentrated centres of the city.
The majority of RDP beneficiaries are so far from economic centres that they find it too costly to even look for, never mind secure access to, employment opportunities. It would therefore be extremely beneficial, for the poor and for the country, if the poor could access accommodation closer to centres of employment and entreprene...
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