As Johannesburg faces a growing housing backlog, the City is seeking funds to build and refurbish temporary emergency accommodation. However, incomplete housing projects, dilapidated existing temporary accommodation, the closing down of shelters and displaced fire victims underscore the lack of affordable housing.
Johannesburg’s housing crisis continues to intensify, with the municipality now turning to the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements for funding to build and refurbish temporary emergency accommodation (TEA) units.
Recently, the City adopted a TEA policy to address the process of delivering affordable housing in the inner city and providing shelter for displaced residents, including those affected by evictions and recurring fire disasters. However, with incomplete housing projects, the closure of essential shelters and abandoned city-owned buildings that could be repurposed for housing, the crisis seems to be worsening by the day.
According to Neo Goba, communications officer in the City of Johannesburg’s human settlements department, at least 50,000 people within the inner city require TEA. Goba estimates that the City will need to provide an additional 10,000 TEA units for evictees in the inner city alone.
“The city solely funds the TEA programme, which speaks to a backlog that keeps growing. We are guided by the Temporary Emergency Accommodation Policy, designed to provide critical-need accommodation in line with Constitutional Court obligations,” Goba said.
“This is achieved through refurbishing existing buildings and developing vacant land. The real issue lies in securing grant funding from both the provincial and national governments.”
However, when pressed for details, Goba did not provide a cost estimate for the TEA project, instead pointing to the refurbishment of buildings like the Moth Building to illustrate the scale of the challenge.
Asked for comment, the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements declined to provide any specific insights into its ability to fund the City’s TEA programme. However, it is well known that the province is already stretched thin due to a severe housing crisis, exacerbated by immigration and other factors.
According to department Gift Langa, the provincial Housing Needs Register lists 1.3 million applicants, and there are at least 300 incomplete housing projects in Gauteng, with 45 currently blocked at different phases of development, meaning they have experienced significant delays of at least 12 months.
Despite the backlog, the provincial human settlements department has delivered, on average, 18,000 housing units and serviced sites a year over the past five years, according to the DA.
Daily Maverick understands that the City has yet to approach the national government for funding for its TEA programme.
A survivor of the 80 Albert Street fire, Roberto Machavan, at the Wembley Stadium Homeless Centre in Johannesburg on 11 September 2023. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)
Inadequate shelters and lack of affordable housing
While TEAs are predominantly for evicted or relocated persons, the City has also been criticised for its management of homeless shelters.
With just three operational shelters, the City of Johannesburg falls far short of the demand for shelters, with homeless people in the city estimated at 20,000, according to News24 in 2023. The shelters that remain open are either dilapidated, too small to accommodate more people, or have shut down altogether.
One of the most notable closures was that of the shelter at 3 Kotze Street, Braamfontein, which is reported to have been closed since December 2023 due to structural issues. This has left more than 300 vulnerable men and women without access to basic services that could help them escape homelessness and reintegrate into society.
Before these closures, the City had the following shelters available:
- 3 Kotze Street – 350 beds;
- MES (Mould, Empower Serve) – 250-300 beds;
- Immaculata Shelter – 100 beds;
- Florida Shelter – 60 beds; and
- The Windsor West shelter, which has 30 beds and was closed in May 2023 for roof maintenance.
Mary Gillett-de Klerk, CEO and founder of the Johannesburg Organisation of Services to the Homeless (JOSH), criticised the City’s TEA policy as outdated and ineffective.
She argued that the City is not addressing the most promising practices for dealing with homelessness, such as drop-in centres, shelters with skills development programmes, and transitional accommodation.
“The City’s TEA policy is just old thinking. It doesn’t address the root causes of homelessness or offer sustainable solutions. Where are these people supposed to go once they leave the shelter?
“We need more affordable and social housing and that gap is simply not being filled. Affordable and social housing is not transitional accommodation. After someone has left the shelter and got work to be fully sustainable and exit the streets sustainably they need to be in a place that is more heavily subsidised than social housing,” Gillett-de Klerk said.
As of the end of March 2024 there were a total of 79 projects, with 16,576 units, managed by social housing landlords including the Johannesburg Social Housing Company, according to Lesego Diale, Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA) marketing and communications manager.
The SHRA is responsible for regulating and investing in the social housing sector. Diale added that there were 18 projects (8,460 units) at varying stages of development in Johannesburg.
The criteria to be eligible for social housing are:
- You are a South African citizen or have a permanent residency permit;
- You are 18 years or older;
- You are married or living with a partner;
- You are single or divorced;
- Your monthly household income is between R1,850 and R22,000 before deductions.
As of August 2022, social housing rentals ranged between R626 and R4,866 a month.
For DA Gauteng shadow MEC for human settlements Mervyn Cirota the crisis in Johannesburg is a complex issue that requires immediate action.
“The lack of coordination between the city and province is glaring. Temporary accommodations don’t solve the housing crisis; they are just a Band-Aid solution. We need a comprehensive plan, but so far none of our questions have been answered,” he said.
Repurposing abandoned or hijacked buildings
The City of Johannesburg is grappling with more than 180 properties under investigation by the Group Forensics and Investigation Service.
Of these, 62 are suspected hijacked buildings, while 122 are alleged to be non-compliant with city by-laws. Fifty-one of these buildings are owned by the Gauteng Department of Public Works, adding another layer of complexity to the issue.
Gillett-de Klerk believes part of the solution lies in repurposing these abandoned or hijacked buildings. She suggests that the City take stock of the properties owned by various government entities and lease them to NGOs, which can then establish services for the homeless.
“They should provide the infrastructure, and we can handle the other services. But it’s baffling that we haven’t gotten there yet. We don’t have enough affordable housing, and the lack of a coordinated plan makes it even harder to address this crisis,” she added.
However, the Usindiso building is a stark example of how a government-owned property initially leased to NGOs as a safe haven for abused women and children was neglected over time, ultimately falling into the hands of hijackers, further complicating the housing crisis.
Nevertheless, Gauteng human settlements MEC Tasneem Motara said in her budget speech in August 2024 that the department is looking into rehabilitating old, abandoned, invaded and dilapidated buildings in the province’s inner cities.
To do so, she said, her department needs to enter into a legal agreement with the City of Joburg or the property company, depending on who owns the property, since the department owns few properties in the precinct.
“But those that we do own will be fully rehabilitated for either rental stock or fully subsidised housing,” Motara said.
Displaced fire victims
The housing crisis is compounded by the displacement of victims from recurring fires in Johannesburg’s hijacked and abandoned buildings. More than 500 people were displaced after the 2023 Usindiso building fire, which claimed 76 lives.
Many were temporarily housed in Denver at the Shalazile shacks, but this site has since become overcrowded after absorbing residents from other hijacked buildings, such as Remington Court.
In August 2024, another fire broke out in an abandoned Jeppestown building, killing four people and leaving 400 more without shelter. Fires like these are becoming all too common, forcing the City to scramble to find emergency accommodation for affected residents, further straining its resources.
Deteriorating conditions in temporary shelters
Life inside the City’s so-called “temporary” shelters is far from dignified. Last November, the Johannesburg High Court ordered the City to improve conditions for the Usindiso fire victims living in Denver.
The court mandated the installation of water drainage systems, better lavatory facilities, prepaid electricity and security patrols. Despite this, the shelters remain overcrowded and poorly maintained.
City spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane told Daily Maverick earlier this year that the City had complied with its court obligation to report back on improving the conditions at Denver.
In another TEA at Wembley Stadium, in Turffontein, some residents live in tents, others in shipping containers, shacks and old buildings. For some this has been home for the past seven years, following the 2017 Cape York building fire in Hillbrow.
Some residents are forced to sleep outside due to a lack of space, since the City has yet to provide a permanent solution.
Regarding the conditions at Wembley, the City told Daily Maverick in 2023: “The department has housed all qualifying fire victims from Cape York. The remaining people are illegal foreign nationals that do not qualify in terms of the policy for transitional housing.”
