Intro paragraph:
South Africa continues to grapple with the enduring legacy of apartheid spatial planning, where access to land, adequate housing, basic services and economic opportunities remains deeply unequal. Despite the right to adequate housing, thousands of people continue to live in informal settlements, overcrowded housing conditions and insecure housing, often located far from employment opportunities, quality education, healthcare and public transport. Spatial injustice continues to shape everyday life for many communities across the City of Tshwane. Many urban communities as well, particularly low-income households, continue to experience inadequate access to affordable housing, insecure tenure, overcrowded living conditions, and exclusion from well-located areas with access to economic opportunities and essential services. In cities such as Tshwane, rapid urbanisation, rising housing demand and limited housing opportunities have placed increased pressure on communities, resulting in the growth of informal settlements, demands for more shelters for the homeless and heightened vulnerability to displacement and evictions. Addressing urban housing, specifically the inner-city challenges therefore require not only the provision of housing and shelter, but also meaningful community participation, secure tenure, inclusive spatial planning and stronger accountability from local government.
The Tshwane Urban Activist School (TUAS) was established through a partnership between Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), the Centre for Faith and Community (CFC), and Tshwane Leadership Foundation (TLF) to respond to these challenges.
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