VAN DER WESTHUIZEN J
relocated by the City and those evicted by private landowners and inflexibly to
include the first but exclude the second group.
[90] In Grootboom this Court held that a reasonable housing programme cannot
disregard those who are most in need.
A programme that leaves out the most
desperate and vulnerable, even if conceived with the best of intentions, will fail to
respond to the actual circumstances that section 26 is intended to ameliorate.85
[91] The City argues that the needs of those who live on properties it has designated
as ―bad buildings‖ are greater than those rendered homeless through eviction by a
private landowner.
While the City‘s programme to relocate persons from ―bad
buildings‖ cannot in itself be faulted, these relocations occur under the ―temporary
accommodation‖ part of its policy. People who are evicted by private landowners fall
under the ―emergency accommodation‖ part of the housing policy. The question is
whether under the City‘s policy anyone in a housing crisis – besides those relocated
by the City from ―bad buildings‖ – will ever qualify for temporary or emergency
housing.
85
Id at para 44 the Court stated:
―To be reasonable, measures cannot leave out of account the degree and extent of the denial of
the right they endeavour to realise. Those whose needs are the most urgent and whose ability
to enjoy all rights therefore is most in peril, must not be ignored by the measures aimed at
achieving realisation of the right. It may not be sufficient to meet the test of reasonableness to
show that the measures are capable of achieving a statistical advance in the realisation of the
right. Furthermore, the Constitution requires that everyone must be treated with care and
concern. If the measures, though statistically successful, fail to respond to the needs of those
most desperate, they may not pass the test.‖
42
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents