Residents facing eviction from their homes in Woodstock were entitled to challenge the City of Cape Town's housing plan, the Western Cape High Court has ruled. The residents believe the city has gone against its own policy by excluding them and others from two sites near the CBD earmarked for transitional housing sites, says GroundUp.

Advocate Sheldon Magardie, for the residents, said there had been a 'change of course' on the part of the city to which the residents wanted to respond. The nine Bromwell Street families, opposing their eviction by the Woodstock Hub, approached the High Court in September 2016 in an attempt to compel the city to provide them with emergency housing near Woodstock.

At the time, the city said only transitional housing in Wolwerivier and Blikkiesdorp was available. The eviction order was suspended and the matter was remanded for mediation. Since then, the city has issued information on a plan to create more affordable and social housing close to the inner city. The Bromwell Road residents want to amend their initial arguments to take into account this information. They also plan to challenge the validity and fairness of the city's implementation of the housing plan.

Karrisha Pillay, for the city, said her clients would have to file a considerable amount of additional paperwork to respond to residents, which could result in an extended court trial. She said the city also had 'constitutional obligations to other poor people'.

Acting Judge Mark Sher interjected: 'I recall the city's papers saying that they want to change apartheid spatial planning. And in fact we have now got sites in Woodstock and Salt River where they will be implementing this. Isn't the (group of residents) then entitled to challenge this?'

Advocate Edward Fagan for the Woodstock Hub also opposed the application.

Full GroundUp report