Everyone in South Africa deserves human dignity, a habitable home and food on the table. The reality, however, is that the country’s economic growth rate of less than 1% is not keeping up with the population increase of 1,5% and unless that changes, we will be faced with unemployment and poverty.
There are people who are able to afford homes, but then homes are not readily available and that complicates matters unnecessarily.
There are many causes for the housing shortage in the country. One is illegal immigration. There is an unbridled influx of people across our country’s borders. Corruption is another big problem. Millions of rand that could have been used for housing has been lost. Similarly, the loss of expertise is another contributing factor.
The housing problem is bound to get a lot worse very fast due to the depopulation of the rural areas as there is a shortage of jobs. People go to the cities in the hope of finding a job.
Administrative and bureaucratic red tape only makes the problem worse. There are thousands of hectares around many towns and cities that could be used for housing, but factors like the rezoning of residential property can take years while the housing crisis continues to escalate.
This causes people to deliberately occupy land in the hope that services will be delivered and that they will be able to settle there eventually.
The housing shortage is a disaster for South Africa. Many factors contribute to this, like investor confidence, economic growth, the influx of people and the population increase. If these problems are addressed, there is indeed hope for South Africa. Pessimism will not solve the problem.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Piet Mey on FF Plus
South Africa Today – South Africa News
