A Cape Town woman’s revelation that she is facing homelessness after she was given notice that her apartment would be turned into an Airbnb has gone viral on social media.
CAPE TOWN WOMAN FACES HOMELESSNESS OVER APARTMENT IS TURNED INTO HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION
On her X account, Alexandra Hayes posted a clip explaining her dire housing crisis.
The emotional Cape Town woman revealed that she had been given an eviction notice after her landlord planned to turn her apartment into an Airbnb.
The mother-of-one had no alternative and was facing the possibility of being homeless.
She said: “I’ve applied for five different places, but I haven’t been accepted into any of them.
“All of them are R10 000 each. Which means you have to have a salary of R30 000 per month, which I don’t have”.
She added, “I’m not the only person going through this right now. If you think that Cape Town doesn’t have a housing crisis, you are so wrong. I just want a home for me and my daughter and me, and it’s so hard.
In other tweets, the Cape Town woman revealed that she would pay a storage facility to keep all her furniture and “couch surf” until the end of the month.
She added, “Why is being alive so expensive? I am not coping”.
HOW MANY AIRBNB’S DOES CAPE TOWN HAVE?
Cape Town currently has over 25 000 Airbnb listings, with 13 000-15 000 active bookings.
From rooms to apartments to fully furnished homes, the market is particularly popular amongst overseas tourists.
Airbnb users in the city pay on average $183 per night (almost R3 000).
According to data, Cape Town property owners, or hosts, who list their homes on the agency make an average of $21,140 (R345 000) per annum.
More than half have multiple listings.
Residents have often expressed frustration at not being able to afford the rentals.
