Blikkiesdorp families still wait 16 years after World Cup removals, as GOOD demands Cape Town build on public land

GOOD has put the 16-year wait for permanent housing in Blikkiesdorp back on the Cape Town agenda, arguing that temporary relocation has quietly turned into a long-term reality for families moved off the city’s streets before the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

In a post on its official X account, the party said residents removed ahead of the tournament are still waiting for what it called the promised dignity and security of a permanent home. The party framed the wait as the consequence of temporary accommodation being allowed to stand in for a lasting solution.

GOOD’s answer is a housing programme built on public land. The party says Cape Town must become “A Housed City”, where public land is used for the public good. Its proposals are to build affordable, rent-stabilised housing on public land, to upgrade informal settlements, and to turn hostels into family homes.

Running through the position is a single demand: temporary accommodation must not become a permanent solution to homelessness. That is the standard GOOD is applying to Blikkiesdorp, where residents have now spent 16 years in accommodation the city treated as a stopgap.

The post sets out the party’s position and its proposals. It does not carry the City of Cape Town’s account of the Blikkiesdorp housing queue, the number of households still waiting, or a timetable for delivery, and those questions remain open on the public record the party has put forward.

The proposals also set out what GOOD is against. It opposes public land being held or used for something other than the public good, and it opposes the practice of leaving people in temporary relocation while a permanent home is promised. On hostels and informal settlements, the party’s position is that upgrading and conversion, rather than continued temporary arrangements, are the route to family housing.

What the party has not said in the post is how the programme would be funded, which public land it would use, or how it would move the Blikkiesdorp households from their current accommodation into permanent homes. Those are the questions its “A Housed City” campaign will have to answer as it takes the argument to Cape Town voters.