Note: I am writing this blog as I am wait for my "host dad" at his office before we leave for his Rotary meeting tonight. This may be short, depending on when he is ready to go.
What a day! I spent today with staff at the City of Capetown's Housing Department. My initial thought at the end of the day is that Tucson's housing issues are miniscule in comparison to Capetown.
I was matched up with this office, as I put "housing" down as one of my interests based on my work with the Arizona Multihousing Association and the City of Tucson. Since Tucson currently has many initiatives relating to affordable housing, I thought it might be interesting to see how Capetown tackles this problem.
Today's visit went in a totally different direction, as I had the opportunity to job shadow two men, Barry and Dave, who work in the Anti Land Invasion (the real name!) Division of the Capetown Housing Department.
As a brief background of what they do, Capetown has millions of people who live in 'informal settlements' - think of the shacks on the hill in Nogales, Mexico, but going on for miles and miles. The South African Constitution puts the onus on property owners to stop temporary settlements from being constructed on their land. To that end, once people put up a "house" (i.e. corrugated metal and wood), the property owner must receive a court order and prove that people invaded their land in order to get the people to move. If you don't have a fence and people move onto your land, then some judges will say it is your fault and that the people cannot be relocated, even if it is private property. And, taking up residence on someone's property isn't a criminal offense, which is why a court order is required.
Most homes in Capetown have very tall fences with wire, which I learned today is not only for security, but also to prevent a temporary settlement from being built on your property.
So, it is the job of the two men that I shadowed today to prevent people from taking up residence on City-owned property. (I asked about City parks and they have a separate police-type force who prevent people from moving in to parks.)
During my day, I witnessed a showdown between residents and the Capetown Police and Housing Department over people who wanted to build structures on vacant City land.
My head is so full of thoughts and questions that is hard to accurately capture everything in this blog post, so I hope I am able to do some justice in this description.
Some things I am thinking about include:
-The South Africa Constitution's treatment of private property rights vs. those in the U.S.
-What should Capetown do about the thousands of people moving to the City each month who do not have housing? Should they kick people off City-owned land, or let them take up residence there?
-What is government's obligation to those without housing? How do local governments balance this with other needs in the City and maintain a balanced budget?
Ahhhh - so many thoughts - I could type all day, but my host dad is ready to go to the Rotary meeting. We are on presentation number 4 on our Rotary club presentation circuit - I think I could almost recite my teammate's speaking portions by this time!
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