The Right to Remain: Housing Affordability Crisis and Displacement in Durban’s Point Precinct

Abstract

This paper examines the housing affordability crisis and displacement dynamics in Durban’s Point Precinct, a contested waterfront development site in post-apartheid South Africa. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted between May and August 2024, including interviews with 50 residents and 4 municipal officials, the study reveals how state-led gentrification creates both direct and indirect displacement pressures on middle and low-income residents. Applying the Right to the City theoretical framework, the research demonstrates how economic displacement operates alongside social and cultural marginalization, creating compound displacement effects that undermine residents’ ability to remain in their communities. The findings reveal that despite high institutional awareness of gentrification processes, implementation gaps in housing policy have resulted in severe affordability challenges, with 92% of participants reporting housing as increasingly unaffordable. The study contextualizes these findings within Durban’s unique post-apartheid urban transformation, including ongoing struggles over urban land through regular land occupations and violent municipal evictions. While gentrification remains a localized phenomenon in Durban compared to broader patterns of middle-class flight, the Point Precinct represents a critical site where contested visions of urban development play out through everyday struggles over housing rights and urban citizenship.