Cape Town’s poor spend almost half their salaries getting to work, with nothing left for housing
By Vivian Warby
It’s 4am and the bustle of the day is beginning at a Khayelitsha taxi rank.
For many commuters, who need to be at work at 6am, the day begins even earlier as they wake up and get ready to make their way on foot to the taxi rank in the dark.
The queue starts forming and the rush is on to fill the taxis that transport more than 900 000 commuters to and from work daily in Cape Town.
For many, the trip will necessitate another form of public transport and more walking.
Back at home, some commuters have left their children, who themselves will have to make their way to school via public transport later in the day.
For one commuter, who works in Oranjezicht and comes from Khayelitsha site C, about R1 350 of her domestic worker’s salary goes on transport monthly before she has begun calculating her two grandchildren’s transport fees to and from school. Her day begins at 5am so she can get ready to walk to catch a bus and then a taxi to get to her workplace by 8.30am.
She describes her home, an informal structure, as adequate but it is small and houses herself, her daughter and two grandchildren. She would like to upgrade her living conditions, but after she has paid for food, school fees, toiletries, clothes for her grandchildren and other basics, she has nothing left for housing.
Township commuters are over-indebted, says Vusi Vokwana, the founder of Kasi Catalyst, which helps drive and facilitate outside big investment in the townships. They buy food on credit from spaza shops and borrow from loan sharks and banks, she says. This leaves nothing for housing.
“It is as though the way we regulate indebtedness is intentional, so that we close the tap on people, so they can never improve their lives, never change their environments, and we never improve transport to make it cheaper and better, perpetuating the cycle.
“All this inequality is built into the system at so many levels – from transport to owning a home and beyond.”
Living in a bubble
Crystal West, the programme manager at Development Action Group (DAG), and who is representing DAG at the Cape Crisis Committee set up last year for all stakeholders after the devastating taxi strike to address transport issues, says it is “as though we live in a bubble and don’t realise the impact of poverty on so many people”.
“Added to that, the chance that you will have a normal family life is zero – basically you are functioning just to put food on the table and pay for transport – this has a big impact on family, community and societal development.”
West says a good transport system should not only serve the purpose of taking you from A to B. “It should enhance access not only to property but also better occupation options, schools and health care.
“The true value of land and housing lies not just in the physical structures but in the opportunities they provide and an efficient transport network democratises access to opportunities.”
She says it is the commuters – the end users – of public transport modes who have solutions and can provide invaluable insights into how the challenges can be addressed.
“We need a P4 approach – People, Public, Private Partnerships – as opposed to only triple P where people are excluded from these important spaces of influence.”
Founder and COO of Alleyroads Group, Ivan Pretorius says the general market spends a third of their income on the cost of going to and from work.
Alleyroads is a black-empowered property development and investment group that focuses on the mid- to lower-income housing market and has grown into a national player in this space over the past 14 years
“Many are living hand to mouth. Rental is increasing by 7 to 8%, water, electricity and food by 14 to 18% and salaries are not moving. People are having to make a hard decision of whether to put food on table, pay their water bill or pay school fees. It is a spiralling situation.”
Little left for housing
Property economist Associate Professor Francois Viruly, who has spent over 25 years in the analysis of the South African property market, says the people who can least afford it are the same ones who have to travel the furthest and pay the most to get to their workplaces.
They are the ones who live in what he calls the 40 x 40 x 40 concept – a 40m² house situated 40km from work and with transport costing up to 40% of a household’s income.
“By the time households have dedicated some 40% of income on transport there is very little left over for housing. While it is often argued that households should be spending some 20 to 30% of income on housing for many South African households that ratio drops to 0%.
“Construction costs, transport costs, putting food on the table – these all affect housing affordability. To make this work we need to get the economy going and improve the efficiency of the urban environment,” says Viruly.
It is imperative, he says, to improve the public transport system – who they serve and how far from people’s work – and try to reduce overall costs of housing affordability.
A good transport system, he says, is the backbone of a thriving and sustainable community and housing market.
He adds that access to the city is essential. “This means not only improving the transport systems but also heightening densities and looking carefully at pockets of land that are well located from an infrastructural perspective.”
Viruly says the city’s recently proposed incentive overlay zones have a role to play as it means unleashing markets in areas that have infrastructure that could cope with higher densities (such as what has happened in places like Sea Point that successfully densified). Indirectly it also implies placing emphasis on transport corridors, such as the Voortrekker corridor.
“We need to move away from focussing on quantum, no matter the location and infrastructure cost.
“Housing delivery should happen within a deep understanding of the parameters that influence affordability. That means aligning housing delivery in the complexities of the urban system and infrastructural and city fiscal constraints. We need a solution that households and the city can afford.”
Proximity to amenities
Alleyroad’s Pretorius stresses the importance of integrated housing developments that go beyond merely providing homes.
The developments must include essential services and infrastructure, such as retail centres, schools, medical facilities and security, to create sustainable, liveable communities.
The goal is to ensure that residents can live, work, and play within a 3 to 5km radius of their homes, thereby reducing transportation costs and improving their overall quality of life, he says.
“This integrated approach is crucial for fostering disposable income and ensuring that communities function more effectively.”
A significant challenge, says Pretorius, in developing affordable housing is the lack of adequate bulk services. He says there is a need for better co-ordination between private developers and the government, emphasising the potential of public-private partnerships to unlock more land for development and create integrated housing solutions nationwide.
Professor Ivan Turok, a professor of City-Region Economies at University of Free State, believes that by prioritising public transport and affordable housing, the country can move towards fostering inclusive urban environments that benefit all residents, ultimately contributing to a more equitable society.
He says there is an urgent need for comprehensive policy reforms to tackle the long-standing challenges effectively.
Turok points out that many South African cities were designed during apartheid, resulting in segregated urban landscapes that continue to affect residents’ mobility and housing access.
The legacy of the policies creates a “spatial mismatch” and barriers for low-income communities, often forcing them to live far from job centres, which increases travel time and costs and is exacerbated by a poorly functioning transport system.
Ndifuna Ukwazi’s (NU) urban policy researcher Nick Budlender adds: “We cannot bus people into economic hubs to take advantage of their labour and then send them home to live in poverty on the outskirts if we want a fair, prosperous city.”
He says apartheid spatial planning has resulted in a dysfunctional city that sees entire areas left out of the economic hub, with barriers such as mountains, train lines and even golf courses separating the haves and have-nots.
“The areas were built for separation not connectivity and connection. It really requires a strong and concerted effort to change this spatial mismatch which is still in existence today,” he says, adding that there is not one thing that will fix the issue.
“We need economic development in townships in order to bring the economy closer to the people; we need multifunctional development around Transit Nodes and we need land availability for affordable housing close to urban centres … they are all needed.”
Turok agrees, saying housing developments should certainly be strategically located near public transport nodes to facilitate better access for residents.
This approach, he says, would enhance living conditions and stimulate local economies by connecting communities to job opportunities.
He points to the fact that the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) owns a lot of land around the rail network but that railway stations around Cape Town are empty and sterilised.
If land around the transport nodes were released to property developers, the areas could be densified and made into bustling nodes, he says.
The government also needs to make more public land, such as Ysterplaat, available for redevelopment, and infrastructure also needs to be improved.
Turok says the transport system should be more integrated and less fragmented.
Often commuters use a taxi, train and bus to get to work with each requiring separate fares.
“Part of the problem is also that different transport entities are managed by different public elements. We need an integrated system that is seamless, with Prasa, Golden Arrow, taxis and MyCiti buses – all managed by the city. Give cities the mandate to get on with it.”
He adds that the geography of city means that there are few arterial roads and rail links besides the N1, N2 and M3.
Brian Bango, the executive chairperson of the Western Cape Township Developers Forum, would like to see business come to the townships to enhance the township economy and afford people in the area jobs close to their homes.
For instance, the Khayelitsha Mall has space for a call centre. “If a big call centre moves there, those staying in Khayelitsha could easily cut transport fees if they work there and this would give them more income for housing.
“Some businesses can be anywhere. It just requires a mindset shift about townships,” says Bango, who represents the many micro-developers in townships in the Cape who have been lauded as the “heroes” of the city for helping address the escalating affordable housing crisis.
Making inroads
Meanwhile the city is working hard to create an integrated transport system and its work to get the collapsed rail system, under Prasa, working again is showing rewards.
The City of Cape Town’s Urban Mobility Directorate has recently updated the Comprehensive Integrated Transport Plan that was approved by the Council last year. It is open for public comment.
DAG programme manager Zama Mgwatyu, who has for years been working closely with micro developers in the townships, says DAG often advises the micro developers who are looking for new opportunities to look at areas close to all amenities, especially transport nodes as most people renting a micro unit won’t have their own cars.
“Access to transport routes is essential in any development in order to create sustainable neighbourhoods. It envisages us talking to stakeholders, such as the taxis, so we can work hand in hand when new areas are being densified so new residents can be serviced by new transport routes.”
On the transit nodes particularly around train stations there is a real opportunity for real estate development, and even for micro developers to move from building a small number of units to ones of up to 50 units, with the right training to upscale.
Western Cape Property Development Forum chairperson Deon van Zyl says one of the biggest challenges is opening new routes quickly between key economic hubs, like the Cape Flats and other destinations.
“Since 1994, how many new routes have been opened? Not many. The biggest investment we’ve seen was the upgrade of the R300 in the mid-2000s, which linked poorer areas to the northern suburbs. But what else? Not much.
“We still have old apartheid barriers of rail lines, the N1 and N2 highways – that we haven’t actively completed. All roads still lead to the Cape Town CBD. What about opening connections between places like Blouberg, Athlone, and Wynberg? We need multiple, smaller connections.”
Van Zyl is adamant that the answer is not to build more highways. “What we need are secondary and tertiary linkages – those smaller roads that will break down the artificial barriers and help solve the congestion problem.
“We need to let new economic nodes develop quickly, and that starts with connecting areas that have historically been divided.”
He urged the private sector to start taking the lead.
“Look at the taxi industry who move close to a million Capetonians around a day. As roads congest and rail systems fall apart, taxis are reading the market in real-time and serving it in real-time. While they may move only 12 to 20 people at a time, they don’t need mass infrastructure to keep people moving.”
There are challenges in revitalising the city’s rail system, which has been in a state of decline for years, he says. “But there’s potential there. Prasa will take time to get the trains up and running properly, and we should give them the benefit of the doubt. In the meantime, we can’t wait.
“Thanks to developments such Amazon’s new operations hub and the route it has put in from Maitland to Observatory, we can see there is progress when private and public sectors work together … but we need more. We can no longer wait for the government to do things on our behalf. If we do, we will wait for decades.
“We have been lazy for 30 years and done very little in terms of rolling up our sleeves and telling the government what to do. That time is over.
“Look at the central improvement districts that got crime and grime under control in many areas, look at the micro developers who are helping the affordable housing crisis, look at the taxis … we need to change our mindset to one of 'can do’. The days of the government having the solutions is over.
“We can learn from the work of the micro developers and the taxis who just got on with things.”
Vokwana agrees. “The light at the end of the tunnel is the way black business operates – it is simple: supply meets demand always. The taxis saw this and created a system that brings dignity, monetising it but not being exploitative.”
The same is true of the micro developers.
To sum it up, Turok points to thriving transport systems across the world. “The transport and housing issues can be fixed, it is not rocket science – there are models around the world to guide us.”
He adds: “We need to see people spending less time getting to school and work, spending less money travelling and thus giving them more disposable income for housing, food and necessities. This will mean fewer accidents and less pollution from exhaust fumes and we are going to see more investment if the city works better, with more jobs and people less frustrated sitting in gridlocked roads. Basically a happier city.”
vivian.warby@inl.co.za
* Vivian Warby is a property editor and writer.
** This story first appeared in the property supplement in the Weekend Argus