Low-income residents of Cape Town are forced to spend over a third of their earnings on commuting because the city's housing crisis prevents them from affording accommodation closer to their workplaces.
According to a report by the housing rights group Ndifuna Ukwazi titled 'Public Land for People, Not for Parking,' the poorest 20% of commuters spend about 35% of their income on transport, compared to only 10% among the highest-paid workers. The report also estimates that an individual who commutes daily from Khayelitsha to the Central Business District (CBD) could spend the equivalent of five years of their working life stuck in traffic.
Leaving home at 4 am for work
Tembisa Yalizo, who travels from Philippi East to the city center, has been making daily commutes for nine years. She often starts her journey from home as early as 4 am. She noted that her area is unsafe due to attacks occurring during her commute.
Octavia Grill from Manenberg has worked in the city for six years. Her concerns about commuting intensified after a recent taxi accident. She is particularly worried because two people died in that crash.
Banati Hala, who lives in Delft and works as a security guard in the city, reported that residents of his area often rely on community police forums due to safety issues. He spends approximately R1,100 per month on transport.
The city's housing crisis keeps workers far from jobs
Bule Bui, head of political organization and campaigns at Ndifuna Ukwazi, explained that the root of the problem lies in decades of spatial planning that placed economic opportunities far from needy communities. He emphasized that this is a legacy of apartheid, not an accident, as apartheid planning reserved well-located land for the white population and displaced Black, Coloured, and Indian residents to the periphery.
According to Bui, after 1994, subsidized housing often prioritized the number of houses built while ignoring their location, while rent in well-located areas remained prohibitively high. The average rent in the Western Cape was R9,730, whereas a studio apartment near Parliament cost between R12,000 and R18,000 per month.
He also noted that about 76% of Cape Town residents earn less than R22,000 per month, yet only 34% of formal housing falls within this price range.
Families pay a high price for long commutes
For many households, moving closer to work seems unrealistic. Instead, workers spend most of their time and income on travel, leaving less time for family duties and meeting other needs.
Professor Stephan Kriegsman from the University of Stellenbosch Logistics Department stated that spatial inequality negatively affects both households and the economy as a whole. He believes that more balanced and equitable cities can reduce transport costs, whereas poorly designed and unequal cities cannot cope with high transport expenses and often suffer from development deficits.
Kriegsman added that long commutes can contribute to a mismatch between workers' skills and the jobs offered to them. Some people might accept work closer to home to avoid the cost of traveling to better-qualified positions. He also mentioned that spending two to three hours a day commuting reduces workers' time for childcare, shopping, and other household chores.
City's housing waiting list
The Ndifuna Ukwazi campaign 'Public Land for People, Not for Parking' proposed the redevelopment of four public properties in central Cape Town: the Parliament parking lot, Top Yard, and two government garages. According to Bui, these sites could accommodate 969 social housing units, 969 market-linked units, and temporary housing for 732 people. He noted that such projects could reduce travel costs, improve access to work, and increase pedestrian traffic for informal traders.
Bui also reported that the City of Cape Town's housing waiting list includes at least 359,277 people. Furthermore, the city forecasts an annual deficit of 22,970 to 27,980 formal homes. He added that the city predicts 53% of homes built between 2020 and 2040 will be informal.
Cape Town has stated it is working on affordable housing through land provision, transit-oriented development, and infrastructure investment. Karl Pfahaim, a city council member for human settlement, reported that land parcels capable of providing over 14,000 affordable units are either in active planning or packaging stages. An additional potential of 7,000 units is estimated on land already allocated to developers. Over the past two years, the city has provided land worth R1.7 billion for affordable housing, which has attracted over R960 million in form of land release discounts, investments in core infrastructure networks, and incentives. Pfahaim specified that 39 sites are in the provision plan, including 11 in the CBD, with a total potential of 40,000 units. The city states that this plan includes 21,000 affordable units and 1,500 social housing units.