The Missing Middle in South African Cities, South Africa.
The Missing Middle – “The public and private housing market is failing to sufficiently address the housing backlog and cater for new household growth in Cape Town, particularly in the delivery of stock to the middle-income market”. How can the middle-class market access affordable housing in well located urban areas?
In South African cities, housing solutions have predominantly served the lower (<35000ZAR) and uppermost markets, leaving the middle-income markets (households earning between 15000ZAR – 45000ZAR) with limited access to housing opportunities and subsidies. With South Africa’s middle class predicted to increase from 17 million to 22 million, finding housing solutions becomes critical.
The 80:20 model is a new pilot development model created by Blok, a property developer in Cape Town, which aims to create a more diverse market of housing solutions. How it works? 80% of the total number of units in a newly planned development will subsidise the more affordable apartments that will account for 20%. This will be achieved by the 80% absorbing the land costs as well as some of the associated planning and finance costs. Cities such as New York, Toronto, Denver and Bagota have also adopted similar mixed-income housing models. Do you have similar housing models in your city? Share your story with us :)
Read more about The 80:20 Model [click here]
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