Advancing the Right to Adequate Housing of Desperately Poor People: City of Johannesburg v. Rand Properties

Abstract

Inadequate housing, the growth and overcrowding of informal settlements, and the occupation of private land and abandoned buildings are prevalent in South Africa. The result is that many of the country’s most vulnerable — women, children, the elderly, and those living with disabilities — are evicted and left homeless. In the inner city of Johannesburg, thousands of desperately poor people are forced to illegally occupy unsafe buildings (so-called “bad buildings”) because they cannot afford accommodation on the private residential housing market nor access the urban social housing units.