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To: Executive Mayor of the City of Cape Town - Geordin Hill-Lewis
REGULATE AIRBNB, PROTECT COMMUNITIES, HERITAGE AND GOOD LANDLORDS
REGULATE AIRBNB, PROTECT GOOD LANDLORDS, PROTECT RENTERS, PROTECT HERITAGE.
The City of Cape Town must act on recommendations already formally submitted to it.
On 28 January, Rent Control submitted a detailed letter to the City as it prepares its housing and tariffs policies for the year. This petition exists to compel the City to follow its own consultation processes and implement the advice already provided.
The City of Cape Town must act on recommendations already formally submitted to it.
On 28 January, Rent Control submitted a detailed letter to the City as it prepares its housing and tariffs policies for the year. This petition exists to compel the City to follow its own consultation processes and implement the advice already provided.
Specifically, the City must:
1. Regulate AirBnB and short-term rentals
- Enforce mandatory registration of all AirBnB units
- Impose fines for unregistered and illegal listings
- Introduce area-based controls in high-pressure neighbourhoods
- Treat AirBnBs as commercial enterprises
- Direct fines toward social housing development
2. Introduce a “Good Landlord Rebate”
- Reform rates and tariffs to protect small, fair landlords and tenants
- Differentiate between:
- Owners of one vs multiple properties
- Long-term rentals vs short-term rentals
- Residential homes vs commercialised housing
- Owners of one vs multiple properties
- Recognise that heritage is created and sustained by communities, not just buildings
3. Adopt a binding Inclusionary Housing Policy
- Require new developments to include affordable housing
- End luxury-only developments that reinforce spatial apartheid
4. Identify and protect Rental Pressure Zones
- Formally identify areas where rents are out of control
- Introduce special protections against displacement and gentrification
- Address artificially low density in areas such as:
- Gardens
- Vredehoek
- Oranjezicht
- Tamboerskloof
- Green Point
- Gardens
5. Reform zoning and heritage regulations
- Allow smart densification where demand already exists
- Ensure heritage protection protects communities, not just buildings
- Introduce:
- Smarter heritage audits
- Heritage exemption zones
- Faster development timelines
- Strong anti-displacement measures
- Smarter heritage audits
- Especially in areas like Bo-Kaap
TO READ THE FULL LETTER CLICK HERE
Why is this important?
There is a housing crisis in Cape Town. This crisis is rooted in an unjust past. Spatial Apartheid still needs to be redressed, the working-classes still have no access to the city. However, this crisis is only deepening today - new technologies like AirBnB have extended the logic of financialization to the housing sector, where homes are viewed solely as financial assets - disconnected from the communities, families and culture which relies upon it. Unchecked by state regulation, the logic of financialization raises property and rental prices to insane levels, encourages the development of micro-apartments and pushes out working-class owners, & middle-class renters further out of the city. This has the run-on effect of creating more displacement down the line, erasing the heritage, culture and livelihoods of the black and coloured working class, with the Bo-Kaap being a prime example of this.
