While the government has moved to increase housing subsidies, beneficiaries and activists remained sceptical whether they would see results any time soon.
In the Western Cape alone, almost 600 000 people were still on the housing waiting list.
On Friday, Minister of Human Settlements, Mmamoloko Kubayi announced policy changes that would see a 29.7% increase in subsidies for RDP and social housing.
She said the government was compelled to effect an increase to speed up housing delivery, "otherwise, more projects will be left incomplete, and construction companies will find it hard to survive".
The increase of 29.7 % will be implemented as follows:
* RDP services and top structure will increase from R196 887 to R255 364
* Houses for persons with disabilities increase from R209 071 to R271 166
* Military veterans’ houses increase from R240 607 to R312 069
* First Home Finance will increase from R130 505 to R169 265
* Social Housing will increase from R327 667 to R424 984
Kubayi also announced safety measures and other enhancements to houses that would be built from the 2023/2024 financial year.
She said solar kits would be installed in the homes to provide electricity and the department would work with the security cluster to prevent theft.
Houses for persons living with disabilities would also be fitted with burglar bars.
Kubayi also announced the centralisation of the disaster response, saying that a national command centre would be set up to provide a swift response.
She also said provincial government departments and municipalities would no longer receive emergency housing grants, but were still expected to respond to all outstanding projects for which they had received grants.
A further change would see those affected by disasters such as flooding and fires receive vouchers from the government to purchase building materials.
Responding to the changes, Housing Assembly activist Kashiefa Achmat said: "Talk is easy, but implementation is not.
"She has added more money to the pot, but we want to see whether this will translate to how many houses are to be built.“
As winter arrives, most informal structures in Cape Town will be flooded as they were erected on floodplain wetlands.
Achmat said several issues regarding the allocation of houses in new developments also needed to be resolved urgently.
"There are people who have been on the housing waiting list since 1985 but get bumped up by young people during allocation. So it's well and good to say that houses are being built, but there's no accountability.
"We are fighting a hard battle. Government must start engaging with us. We can no longer be shut out of the housing issues that affect us," Achmat said.
Recently, some residents had attempted to occupy empty houses in some of the developments, including Forest Village, near Eersterivier.
According to the provincial Department of Infrastructure, the development would accommodate overflow beneficiaries from the N2 Gateway Phase 1, drawn from informal settlements and surrounding communities.
"Once completed, the development will comprise a total of 4 820 units, which is split between 3 977 new (RDP) and 838 Help Me Buy a Home (HMBH) units," said spokesperson for the MEC, Ntobeko Mbingeleli.
MEC Tertuis Simmers welcomed the enhancement changes to the RDP homes as well as the increase in subsidy.
“As the Western Cape, we welcome the introduction of safety features in the houses designated for people living with disabilities. This speaks directly to two of our provincial priorities of Safety and Wellbeing.
"The installation of solar panels is a welcomed addition. We have already introduced the installation of solar geysers as indicated in my budget speech earlier this week to mitigate against the Energy crisis,” he said.
However, Simmers said clarity on the rollout of the additional features would need to be provided.
Regarding the amendments to the emergency funds and or grants, Simmers said his department would be guided by the Framework.