South Africa is short of 2.6 million homes

This article examines South Africa’s growing housing crisis and explores how Vienna’s internationally recognised social housing system provides practical lessons for addressing the country’s housing shortage. Vienna has achieved housing affordability through over a century of political commitment to housing as a social right, a proactive state that actively shapes land and property markets, and the integration of social housing into well-located urban areas rather than relegating it to the periphery. The city owns and manages a large stock of social rental housing, works with limited-profit housing associations, and uses strong regulation, land management, and public investment to ensure affordability and social inclusion. The authors suggest that South Africa could benefit from adopting similar approaches by expanding social rental housing, strengthening the role of the state in guiding housing markets, using public land strategically, and viewing housing not merely as shelter but as a driver of economic mobility, social cohesion, and inclusive urban development.

Abstract based on original source.