Cape Town - People from lower to middle income households, including many essential workers across the Western Cape are set to benefit from a new draft inclusionary housing policy framework unveiled by the Western Cape government.
In a bid to tackle the issue of housing and spatial inequality in municipalities, the department of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning has invited the public to comment on its new plan.
MEC Anton Bredell said the Province wanted more affordable and inclusionary housing in well-located areas within its municipalities and the draft policy, which will rely on partnership with the private sector will create more opportunities for people to live in better locations.
“The draft policy framework will help municipalities in the province to facilitate the inclusion of more affordable housing units in developments in their municipal areas.
“Every independent report shows that the level and quality of basic services provided to people in the Western Cape are a world apart from every other area in the country but it is not good enough to provide good free basic services to our people. We also want to drive real change in their lives.”
The policy framework sets out to define inclusionary housing and answer questions such as: Why should it be used as a mechanism for spatial transformation and how it can be introduced in municipalities.
Good MPL Brett Herron welcomed the draft policy but said it did not go far enough.
“This is because the policy doesn’t direct the municipalities to do anything except comply with the legislation that already exists.
“The planning function, as the draft policy says, rests with municipalities and this policy is really a paper that explains inclusionary housing and encourages Western Cape municipalities to prepare their own policies and amend their planning by-laws.”
The Draft Western Cape Inclusionary Housing Policy Framework is available on the website: www.westerncape.gov.za/eadp
For enquiries, contact Ms Catherine Stone on e-mail: [email protected] or by telephone at: 021 483 4796.
Virtual workshops will be held on May 31. To participate in the workshop, kindly forward your name to [email protected].