Cape Town - The landmark case that could bring evictees facing homelessness in Cape Town one step closer to more dignified temporary accommodation, kicked off in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on Monday, where the City is challenging a high court judgement which declared its emergency housing programme unconstitutional.
In November 2021, Bromwell Street residents, represented by Ndifuna Ukwazi Law Centre, were triumphant after the high court declared that the City’s emergency housing programme and implementation, in relation to innercity evictees rendered homeless upon eviction, was unconstitutional.
The Court ordered the City to provide the residents with temporary emergency accommodation or transitional housing as close to their current homes as possible.
The City was granted leave to appeal the matter which was heard at the SCA in Bloemfontein on Monday.
The City argued in court papers that it did not provide emergency housing in the inner city because of high costs, high rates and scarcity of land among others.
The City said it had an obligation to give effect to the right to housing across the board and land and resources allocated to emergency housing were not available for allocation to permanent forms of housing.
Resources were finite, meaning the City must weigh up how best to apply them, it argued.
Ndifuna Ukwazi, Head of the Law Centre, and lead attorney Disha Govender said there were thousands of people being displaced across Cape Town, without due regard to their dignity as people or to their ability to earn an income, nor to the detrimental effect of the overall economy.
“The need for well-located affordable housing of all kinds, including temporary or transitional housing is great and critical.
The City on Monday said the high court judgment set an unsustainable precedent for the state to accommodate persons – whether in a public or private eviction – in the immediate vicinity of the relevant unlawful occupation.
“The state has neither the resources nor the land available to comply with such a precedent, which would impede existing housing development plans across the metro,” the City said.
Cape Times