Human Settlements
- What is (a) the total number of informal dwellings in the province and (b) how this number has grown since 2009;
- whether his Department has any plans to address the problem; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
(1& 2) No baseline information is available on the number of informal dwellings in the
province for 2009. Census 2001 indicates that one in seven households lived in informal dwellings. By 2011 this number changed to one in six households. The General Household Survey, 2016 showed that the percentage of households living in informal settlements dropped from 13.6% to 13.1% between 2002 and 2014.
However, according to a Rapid Appraisal study conducted in 2016, 503 informal settlements were recorded in the Province.
Source: NUSP Study, 2014; Western Cape Informal Settlement Database, 2014; ISSP Rapid Appraisal, 2016 and City of Cape Town Informal Settlement Development Matrix, 2013.
My department has developed an Informal Settlements Support Plan (ISSP) to enhance and accelerate the upgrading of informal settlements throughout the province. The focus of the ISSP is on incremental, inclusive and infrastructure-led (via basic services provision) initiatives that will improve the living conditions of our people. Sixty (60) informal settlements has been identified for upgrading during the MTEF period.
