Called Empower Shack, the project offers alternative affordable housing models for former shack dwellers.
Amos Lephaila and Nolusanda Booi from Site C, Khayelitsha in Cape Town have lived in a shack since 2015 with their four daughters. They are among 20 families who will soon move into newly built homes in Site C in the last phase of an alternative affordable housing project. The project, called Empower Shack, has been in the works since 2015. A total of 73 homes have been built on the same site where the families had occupied.
According to Kollenberg, the housing project started as a research project which investigated how to house people"more efficiently and with more dignity". Ben Nkuna, general manager of programmes and fiance at Ikhayalami, said the organisation has been involved in reblocking projects to create more space between shacks at informal settlements across Khayelitsha.
Following talks with the City of Cape Town, the team decided to use fire-resistant material to make the homes. The structures are made of brick, wood, zinc sheets, and are fireproof and water-resistant. Each household could choose from five different model sizes, depending on affordability and their family's needs, ranging from 42.5 square metres to 80 square metres.