Impact of Climate Change Risks on Housing Resilience: A Case Study of Khayelitsha, South Africa

Cities are increasingly at the forefront of climate change risks, with rapid urbanisation amplifying exposure and vulnerability to hazards such as floods and heatwaves (IPCC, 2022). In Africa, fragile infrastructure, overcrowding, and unsafe housing intensify these impacts, turning minor climate events into severe disasters (Fitchett et al., 2016; Pauleit et al., 2015). As a result, poor and informal settlements remain disproportionately affected, facing recurring losses to homes, livelihoods, and health. The aim of this study is to contribute to research on how weather shocks specifically floods and heatwaves exacerbated by climate change interact with housing infrastructure to produce patterns of risk and loss in poor communities. Using Khayelitsha as a case study, the research provides localised insights into how these dynamics unfold in vulnerable urban contexts. This study adopts an interpretivist, constructivist paradigm and an inductive, qualitative case study approach to explore how climate change risks affect housing resilience in Khayelitsha. Using semi-structured interviews and academic literature as secondary data, it examines stakeholder experiences, institutional responses, and adaptation and mitigation challenges. The methodology ensures contextual depth, credibility, and alignment with the study’s aim to understand lived realities of vulnerability and resilience. The findings reveal that climate change risks in Khayelitsha, particularly flooding, are not isolated environmental occurrences but rather the outcome of deeply interconnected spatial, physical and structural vulnerabilities. Historical injustices, inadequate service delivery, and the continuous densification of informal settlement have collectively entrenched a cycle of flood risk that perpetuates fragile housing and undermine resilience. Additionally, the City of Cape Town’s reliance on reactive, short-term interventions such as the Winter Readiness Programme and fire kits offers temporary relief but is constrained in addressing structural vulnerabilities. Persistent budget constraints and rigid funding models further limit the municipality’s capacity to implement proactive and long-term housing resilience strategies. These findings underscore the need for policy and funding reforms that prioritise proactive, long-term climate adaptation in informal settlements, ensuring that municipal strategies move beyond reactive measures to build resilient communities. The study highlights the need for further research into sustainable, context-specific adaptation strategies and funding mechanisms that can effectively strengthen housing resilience in informal urban settlements.

Grantor dc:publisher

Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Sabisa, Lihle

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Burger, Werner

Language dc:language.iso

en

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/135880

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/135880