According to the report by Public Land for People, Not for Parking, the poorest workers in Cape Town spend a significant portion of their income on transportation costs. These expenses, along with lost time, can collectively consume nearly 80% of net income because the city's housing crisis forces workers to live far from their workplaces.
The Ndifuna Ukwazi report indicates that 20% of South Africa's lowest-income residents spend about 35% of their earnings directly on travel, whereas this figure is only 10% among the top 20% highest-paid workers.
For someone traveling from Khayelitsha to the city center, working life can require up to five years spent in traffic jams. Thembiisa Yaleso, for instance, commutes from Philippi East to central Cape Town for nine years, leaving home as early as 4 am. Daily journeys are accompanied by constant safety concerns.
Octavia Grill from Manenberg, who has worked in the city for six years, is well aware of this burden. Her concerns intensified after a recent taxi accident. She noted that a terrible incident involving a taxi traveling from Manenberg into the city resulted in two deaths, causing great anxiety for the mother.
Even organized transport does not always guarantee safety for some workers. Banati Hala, living in Delft, reported that residents of his area often rely on assistance from the community police forum due to safety issues. Hala, who works as a security guard in the city, spends R1,100 per month on travel.
Bubbe Bui, head of political organization and campaigns at Ndifuna Ukwazi, explained that the pressure experienced by workers stems from decades of planning that placed economic opportunities far from needy communities. He emphasized that this is a spatial legacy, not an accident. Apartheid-era planning reserved well-located land for the white population and displaced Black, Coloured, and Indian residents to the periphery. After 1994, subsidized housing largely repeated this practice, prioritizing quantity over location. Meanwhile, rent in well-located areas is unaffordable.
The high cost of living near workplaces exacerbates the consequences. Bui noted that the average rent in the Western Cape is R9,730, the highest in the country. A studio apartment near Parliament costs between R12,000 and R18,000 per month, which is three to four times the national minimum wage. Approximately 76% of Cape Town residents earn less than R22,000 per month, but only 34% of formal housing matches this price range.
Thus, for many households, the option of living closer to work is unrealistic. Instead, workers have to bear the costs of long commutes, sacrificing income and time that could be spent on family and other needs. The consequences affect not just individual families.
Professor Stephan Kriegsman from the University of Stellenbosch Logistics Department stated that spatial inequality also affects the functioning of cities and their ability to cope with rising transport costs. He explained that cities exist partly due to the expense of transport; more equitable and better cities are capable of reducing these costs. When transport costs increase, more equitable cities demonstrate resilience, whereas poorly designed and unequal cities cannot absorb high transport costs and often suffer from development deficits. Kriegsman reminded that it is cities that drive economic growth.
Long commutes also lead to a mismatch between workers' skills and available vacancies, as people may accept jobs closer to home instead of incurring travel costs for positions matching their qualifications. Kriegsman called this a loss for the economy that can reduce productivity. He added that the ideal situation is when suitable people occupy suitable positions, but when workers cannot easily access them, a skills-supply mismatch occurs. Matching skills and jobs promotes productivity and economic growth.
He also noted that daily commutes lasting two to three hours leave workers with less time for childcare, shopping, and other household chores.
The Public Land for People, Not for Parking campaign proposed the redevelopment of four public properties in central Cape Town: the Parliament parking lot, Top Yard, and two public garage complexes. According to Bui, these areas could accommodate 969 social housing units, 969 market-linked units, and temporary accommodation for 732 people. Bui added that benefits include reduced travel costs, the ability for more people to reach work, and increased pedestrian traffic for informal traders. Studies mentioned in their report also suggest that inclusive densification improves both labor market inclusion and public finances.
The scale of Cape Town's housing problem makes the prospect of significant change even more urgent. Bui reported that there are at least 359,277 people on the city's housing waiting list. The city forecasts a deficit of 22,970 to 27,980 formal homes annually. Under current trends, 53% of homes built between 2020 and 2040 will be informal.
Cape Town has stated that it will implement affordable housing programs through land provision, transit-oriented development, and infrastructure investment. Karl Pofaim, a city council member for human settlement, reported that land parcels capable of providing over 14,000 affordable units are in the active land provision or project packaging plan. Additionally, an estimated potential of 7,000 units exists on sites already allocated to developers, and Cape Town already has over 6,000 completed social housing units.
Pofaim specified that over the past two years, the city has provided land worth R1.7 billion for affordable housing, as well as land with an estimated potential of 13,766 housing opportunities. He also mentioned that the city has provided over R960 million in discounts on land allocation, investments in core infrastructure, and incentives to boost project viability. It was noted that 39 projects are in the pipeline, including 11 in the Central Business District, with a total potential of 40,000 units, of which 21,000 are affordable housing and 1,500 are social housing.
However, Pofaim pointed out that national grant funding remains a serious constraint, stating that the city has not received national grant funding for affordable housing for five years, starting from the Maitland Mews project in 2021, despite submitting six relevant applications. He stressed that real funding or grants from the national government for affordable housing does not exist. All achievements are due to the City's progressive policy developed over the last two years. Pofaim concluded that the city has many more ready or near-ready projects that could significantly benefit from national support.