LOCAL ELECTIONS 2026: Cape Town’s Airbnb surge exacerbating the housing crisis — what are political parties proposing?
Daily Maverick asked some of the major parties gunning for Cape Town’s mayoral seat how they viewed Cape Town’s housing shortage – and how they planned to address it. Here’s what they had to say.
Cape Town's soaring Airbnb rental market is worsening the city's already dire housing shortage, according to political parties running for mayor in the 2026 local elections. Daily Maverick interviewed candidates from the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the African National Congress (ANC) about their proposed solutions.
The average rent in the Western Cape province, where Cape Town is located, is the highest in the country at R12,561 per month, a 9.7% increase from the previous quarter. This is nearly R2,000 more expensive than the second-highest province, the Northern Cape. According to Ndifuna Ukwazi, a social justice organization advocating for affordable land access, 76% of Cape Town residents earn below R22,000 monthly, with only 25% earning above R3,500.
Political parties agree that the housing crisis in Cape Town stems from a combination of factors, including post-apartheid spatial planning and land dispossession. However, they also point to the impact of short-term rentals, like Airbnbs, which have concentrated in the city's most crucial economic areas, exacerbating the problem.
The DA candidate, Geordin Hill-Lewis, attributes the housing shortage to supply and demand factors like population growth and migration. He supports increasing the supply of housing by releasing unused state land for private development, while also maintaining the current short-term letting by-law. The ANC, on the other hand, blames the DA for prioritizing profit over residents' well-being and supports releasing state land for development, with a focus on low-cost housing in key areas like the CBD and Sea Point.
However, the ANC is cautious about banning short-term rentals entirely, fearing it could lead to monopolies by hotels and similar businesses.
Written by urgent.news from Daily Maverick's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
