Surplus People Project

The Surplus People Project exists because housing insecurity in Cape Town is not an abstraction—it's about families in backyard shacks, people on waiting lists for RDP houses that may take decades to materialise, and communities facing eviction from land where they've built informal settlements. The organisation works with residents facing this reality, providing legal support in eviction cases, advocating for secure tenure, and pushing for dignified relocation processes when demolition is inevitable. In a city where post-1994 housing delivery has never matched demand, and where informal settlements continue to grow across the Cape Flats and adjacent areas, the Surplus People Project plays a critical role: documenting residents' rights, connecting people with legal representation, and ensuring that development processes don't steamroll the most vulnerable. The work is unglamorous but essential—it directly affects whether families stay housed or become street homeless.