Over 500 Hijacked Buildings: Johannesburg’s Housing Crisis Deepens
Afternoon Drive with John Maytham · 2 June 2026 · 8m
Speaker 1: I was reading an article in The Sweat And earlier today about the housing crisis Speaker 1: in Johannesburg and how the city is staring down a difficult urban reality. It's too Speaker 1: broke to rehouse residents which are being removed from hijacked buildings, even as it pushes Speaker 1: ahead with a cleanup campaign targeting more than five hundred illegally occupied properties across the Speaker 1: CBD and surrounding areas. The city says it has reclaimed dozens of buildings in recent Speaker 1: years, but behind each eviction order lies a deeper challenge. There is simply no budget, Speaker 1: no land, and no emergency accommodation available to absorb the displaced. What happens in a Speaker 1: case like that? Does a city just progressively become an urban slum? I wanted to Speaker 1: put that question to an expert, and I'm delighted to say we have one on Speaker 1: the line. Professor Maria Horsemayer is joining me on the line from the University of Speaker 1: Vivatstrun. Professor, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. When a city is Speaker 1: too broke to rehouse evicted residents, what does that reveal about the state of the Speaker 1: urban housing policy? Speaker 2: Thanks so much. And good after interviewing all listeners. Well, of course, there is a Speaker 2: bigger discourse about Johannesburg that you probably also have heard, and it's about the crisis Speaker 2: that the city is in. There's a crisis committee of civil society and academics have Speaker 2: been trying to address the city about these issues. But it might also be a Speaker 2: crisis of leadership, and we know that that has been an issue in the city Speaker 2: as a difficult coalition…
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