Cape Town’s housing crisis meets tourism-fired Airbnb boomBy Shakirah Thebus / AFP, CAPE TOWNThe laughter of children echoed against walls lined with dozens of mattresses in a large, dim room of an illegally occupied building in Cape Town’s bustling and touristy city center. The property is in the heart of Cape Town, where rental prices are soaring as tourism is booming. “My income doesn’t allow me to pay Cape Town’s exorbitant rent prices,” said one of the residents, Fundisa Loza, 46. A woman eats on a couch in a hall of an occupied building in Cape Town on Dec. 18. For city official Luthando Tyhalibongo, Cape Town’s “housing stress is not foreign-made, investor-made or Airbnb-made...

Source: Taipei Times December 27, 2025 17:12 UTC