[LISTEN] Are emergency housing kits for evictions unconstitutional?

South Africans have a constitutional right to adequate housing, but this is not something that everyone is experiencing.

Clarence Ford speaks with Dr Jonty Cogger, attorney with Ndifuna Ukwazi.

Questions are being raised around the concept of emergency housing kits being used in cases of evictions.

In a case where a person is going to be homeless as the result of an eviction, Cogger says that there is an obligation for the city to provide emergency accommodation.

However, in a case with a family from Woodstock that he is representing, the city has said that all the usual emergency housing accommodations are full.

Instead, they are offering the family building materials and they will have to find a landowner who is willing to allow them to make a makeshift shelter on their land.

The family had been living in the same building in Woodstock for more than two decades, but are facing eviction as the building was sold to the Woodstock Hub (Pty) Ltd.

We do not think that that is constitutional.

Jonty Cogger, Attorney - Ndifuna Ukwazi

He adds that this is part of a bigger problem, where there is a lack of adequate housing and people are forced to stay in emergency structures long-term.

As housing delivery worsens and slows down these temporary situations do become permanent, and they create sprawling informal settlements.

Jonty Cogger, Attorney - Ndifuna Ukwazi

They are dislocated from the areas in where they were evicted. They are essentially poverty traps where people have to fend for themselves.

Jonty Cogger, Attorney - Ndifuna Ukwazi

You would think that someone who is facing an emergency would need the safety nets of the state to be able to find them a way out of the crisis that they face.

Jonty Cogger, Attorney - Ndifuna Ukwazi

However, he says that there does seem to be progress being made in trying to ensure that there is more social housing.

There is movement towards progress.

Jonty Cogger, Attorney - Ndifuna Ukwazi

Listen to the interview above for more.

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