Social Housing – Summary

SOCIAL HOUSING 1 Introduction Increased access to rental accommodation in South Africa’s cities has long been recognised as a national priority. Many people cannot afford property in the urban cores, where land prices are high partly because these areas are near workplaces and urban amenities. Rental accommodation also serves people who do not wish to establish permanent ties to their places of work, preferring to see other places – whether in the countryside or elsewhere in the city – as their homes. However, many of those most in need of rented accommodation in the city cannot pay the rents that would make the construction of new housing stock of this kind commercially viable.