Cape Town’s housing crisis is no longer only a local concern. It is now drawing international attention after a New York Times report published on 1st April highlighted the growing dominance of tourism and short-term rentals in the city centre, placing a global spotlight on one of the most pressing issues facing Capetonians today.

The report frames Cape Town as a city increasingly shaped by global demand, where prime urban space is being redirected toward short-term visitors rather than long-term residents. At the centre of this shift is a striking statistic, with as much as 70% of residential housing in the city centre now dedicated to hotel-style accommodation and short-term rentals.

One example highlighted is a modern apartment development near the Atlantic Seaboard, where a significant portion of units are reserved specifically for short-term stays. Nightly rates can reach levels that rival what many Capetonians earn in an entire month, placing central living far beyond reach for the majority of working residents.

For people like Lizanne Domingo, the impact is immediate and personal. “The city’s actually being upgraded for tourists,” she said. “It’s not for our own people because the cost of living is ridiculously expensive.” Her experience reflects a broader reality where residents are being pushed further away from economic centres, often into areas lacking basic services and infrastructure.

The report notes that many Capetonians now face daily commutes of up to two hours each way. This geographic displacement has consequences beyond transport costs, affecting access to quality education, healthcare, employment opportunities and even basic amenities such as supermarkets and emergency services.

In some cases, families have been forced into overcrowded or informal housing conditions in order to remain within reach of work. Others have relocated to distant communities where housing is cheaper, but opportunities are fewer. Around 20% of the city’s population still lives in informal settlements, underscoring the scale of the housing challenge.

Economically, the city continues to rely heavily on tourism. Cape Town’s mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, defended the sector’s importance, stating that tourism supports more than 200,000 jobs and contributes billions to the economy. “We have to figure out ways to manage that pressure,” he said, adding that the city cannot afford to turn away from one of the fastest-growing parts of the national economy.

However, that growth is now being weighed against rising inequality. Housing experts estimate that nearly nine out of ten families cannot afford to live in the city centre, a figure that reflects both rising prices and limited availability of affordable units.

Critics argue that the current trajectory risks reinforcing patterns established during apartheid, where communities were historically pushed to the outskirts while economic and social opportunity remained concentrated in central areas. The report suggests that, despite decades of change, those spatial divides are once again becoming entrenched.

There are efforts underway to address the imbalance. The City of Cape Town has introduced measures aimed at increasing housing supply, including releasing public land and streamlining development processes. Provincial authorities have also announced plans for subsidised housing projects closer to the city centre.

Yet progress remains slow, and for many residents, the sense is that the city is evolving faster for visitors than for those who call it home.

What gives this story added weight is not just the data, but the perspective. The fact that an international publication has identified housing as a defining issue in Cape Town signals that the crisis is no longer contained within local debate. It is now part of a broader global conversation about tourism, inequality and who ultimately has the right to live in the world’s most desirable cities.

Source: The New York Times – John Eligon