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Informal backyard
housing development
at a CROSSROADS
Townships in Gauteng and the Western
Cape are abuzz with construction activity
as homeowners respond to the need
for housing by building and upgrading
backyard rental units. This trend has the
potential to improve living standards
in townships and make cities more
compact, integrated and efficient. A
recent gathering of public- and private-
sector representatives agreed that the
government needs to support individuals
by simplifying the building process and
drawing investment into townships and
informal settlements.
By Andrea Teagle
Xoliswa Sidinile outside her property in Khayelitsha, Cape Town,
December 2020. Photo: Andrea Teagle
W
hen Xoliswa Sidinile (40) left the
Eastern Cape for Cape Town in 1998,
she could only afford a simple shack.
In 2015, she and her husband received an RDP
house in Khayelitsha. Like many others in the
area, she built a shack in the back yard. Today,
that shack has been replaced by a smart, two-
storey block of flats. Sidinile’s story tracks the
changing nature of backyard housing rental in
South African townships.
Informal rental housing is an integral part of the
housing landscape in South Africa, a product of
historical spatial segregation and urbanisation.
In the 1990s, two-storey rental units were
Dozens of patients were sent away in May 2020 after the Eastern Cape Department of Health
unheard of and
shut down Zwide most
Clinic landlords
in Port only received
Elizabeth following the death of a nurse and 11 other staff
enough rent to
members testing coverfortheir
positive costs – what the
the coronavirus.
Photo: Mkhuseli Sizani, GroundUp
HSRC’s Andreas Scheba and Ivan Turok termed
HSRC Review | Volume 19 Number 1 • March 2021 | Page 29
subsistence letting. The formal Second-floor flats can clear the by the City of Cape Town showed
housing market, rather than reducing ground-level spaces for commercial that between 2011 and 2018,
informal renting, ironically augmented activity, turning main streets into enterprising households and small-
it, as many RDP owners began to economic hubs. As Turok writes, scale developers in Khayelitsha built
rent out backyard space in what has building upwards rather than about 7 000 micro-rental units on
become a particularly South African outwards is necessary to realise the 9 000 properties. Significantly, almost
phenomenon. promise of urban density. Transport, half of these (40%) were brick-and-
schools and clinics become more mortar dwellings. Extrapolated across
In the last few years, this market
viable. This is the backyard real estate Khayelitsha, this amounts to an
has boomed, with backyard rental
story with a happy ending. estimated 24 000 additional units.
dwellings becoming the dominant
type of informal rental housing. There is, however, another all-too- However, as Rudman and other
While shacks are still most common, familiar end to this story, one that is webinar presenters noted, the trend
many homeowners like Sidinile are characterised by ramshackle buildings was happening not because of, but
upgrading their units, contributing to and overcrowded conditions, failing despite the government. “Official
improved living conditions in some infrastructure, and no access to basic indifference to informal rental
areas. services. At the webinar, the City housing ... means the potential
of Cape Town’s Charles Rudman, negative externalities (health
“Higher-quality backyard renting is
executive director of the Spatial and safety risks, unfair landlord-
emerging in places like Delft [also
Planning and Environment Portfolio tenant relations, overloaded public
a Cape Town township] because of
Committee, noted how in Dunoon, infrastructure) can be neglected,”
the growing demand from young
another township on the outskirts of Turok and Scheba write.
black professionals and white-collar
Cape Town, a laissez-faire approach
workers,” write Scheba and Turok. Speaking at the webinar, Scheba
has resulted in raw sewage in the
These individuals are seeking to said, “We need to create a more
streets, structural instability and an
be closer to jobs, or to transport appropriate regulatory environment,
increased risk for fires. A downward
networks, and often don’t intend to more streamlined administrative
spiral like this can result from
stay in the flats permanently. processes, and a strong enforcement
municipal ambivalence and neglect of
capacity on the ground to support
Speakers at a recent HSRC webinar intensive backyard renting.
those bottom-up activities, which,
on backyard rental outlined how,
until now, have largely been informal.”
with enough set-ups like Sidinile’s, Streamlining regulations
neighbourhoods and cities can start Rudman, who previously worked Some steps have been taken in this
to function differently. Development for the Khayelitsha planning office, direction. According to Rudman,
creates jobs and enhances skills. reported that an analysis undertaken Cape Town’s mayoral committee
Page 30 | HSRC Review | Volume 19 Number 1 • March 2021
has approved measures to enable A precinct-based approach township Economic Development
property owners to develop small- One of the challenges of harnessing Fund. But really, ultimately it doesn’t
scale accommodation. These include the potential of the backyard matter who does the agglomeration,
an agreement to amend the zoning development trend is how to but agglomeration is needed ... to
in certain areas to eliminate the need provide additional water and bulk diversify the risk.”
for planning permission, and to create infrastructure to cope with the
According to Koseff, Gauteng had
pre-approved, off-the-shelf building growing population.
partnered with Indlu, a mobile
plans for homeowners to choose
The speakers agreed that taking a application that helps tenants
from. Small-scale builders would
forward-thinking, precinct-based find, pay for and manage their
also be exempt from having to pay
approach to development would monthly rentals, to finance backyard
building-plan fees and the approval of
support access to electricity, water development in certain areas of
small-scale building plans would be
and other basic services. Such Gauteng. “Developing a precinct
prioritised.
an approach could incorporate like Thembisa or large-scale sets of
The committee had also agreed off-grid, micro-grid and micro- interlocking precincts in Alexandra,
to establish a list of accredited sanitation infrastructure that Soweto, etc. in Gauteng, is going to
registered credit providers. Funding municipalities could buy from provide an opportunity to battle-test
public infrastructure would require independent suppliers. Zama some of that regulatory reform.”
further discussion, Rudman said. Mgwatyu of the Development
Suggesting that Cape Town first focus
Action Group suggested that the
In Gauteng, meanwhile, the draft on amending zoning in areas where
national government could assist
Gauteng Township Economic development is already taking place,
municipalities by providing a
Development bill aims to Rudman observed: “Sometimes
municipal infrastructure grant. He
streamline bylaws that regulate you need to sell an approach to
also noted that traditional banks had
commercial activity, and to allow politicians.”
shown little appetite to finance the
for the designation of precincts Author: Andrea Teagle, a science writer in the
sector.
and township high streets, said Jak HSRC’s Impact Centre
Koseff, a representative of the Office Koseff argued that the private sector
ateagle@hsrc.ac.za
of the Premier, Gauteng Provincial would enter the space if it had
Government. (The same bill, the option to invest in a portfolio
however, is undermined by clauses of backyard upgrades, rather than
that infringe on the rights of foreign individual developments. “[Banks]
migrants to participate in township want to provide wholesale funding, Dense housing in Khayelitsha, Cape Town
economies.) possibly through instruments like our Photo: Johnny Miller
HSRC Review | Volume 19 Number 1 • March 2021 | Page 31You can also read
