Natasha Caswell stands in her flat in Erica Court, Manenberg, Cape Town, South Africa. Caswell and her husband waited 35 years for housing after first applying in 1990. Though relieved to finally have a home, the flat is small, leaving no space for their grandchildren, who stay nearby with elderly relatives.

Jacqueline Bailey, 49, sits in her temporary home with her grandchildren in Manenberg, Cape Town, South Africa. Bailey has experienced long-term displacement since her former community in Jordan Oak was dismantled. She has moved between shelters, relatives’ homes, and informal settlements while waiting more than twenty years for government housing. Now living with her daughter and grandchildren, she faces overcrowding and limited access to basic services.

A man plasters the wall of a self-built extension to his RDP house in Manenberg, Cape Town, South Africa. Like many low-income families, he has added informal structures to accommodate a growing household amid overcrowding and limited housing options.

Children play in the street between newly built RDP homes in Manenberg, Cape Town, South Africa. With no designated play areas or private yards, the street becomes a shared space for children in the neighborhood.

Gasant Kariem, 66, poses for a portrait in his bedroom in Manenberg, Cape Town, South Africa. Kariem has lived in a transitional settlement for nearly two decades and has been on the housing list since 2004. Unable to work after a workplace injury, he now shares a bed with his grandchildren while waiting for permanent housing, facing ongoing health challenges and economic uncertainty.

A woman hangs laundry outside the Erica Court flats in Manenberg, Cape Town, South Africa. Built during apartheid to enforce segregation, these aging council flats were never intended as permanent homes. Today, they house generations of families in overcrowded and deteriorating conditions, where daily routines continue despite neglect and decay.

An upward extension on a house is seen through a neighboring window in Manenberg, Cape Town, South Africa. Residents often build second stories to cope with overcrowding and a shortage of available housing.

Bernadette Boer, 35, lives with her husband and four children in a small self-built room in Manenberg, Cape Town, South Africa. A full-time caregiver to children with complex medical and developmental needs, Boer has been on the housing waiting list since 2012. Despite being classified as a priority case and actively advocating through the Housing Assembly, she remains stuck in a system marked by delays, lost documentation, and unmet promises.

Beatrice Markus, 55, sits with her grandchild at her home in Cape Town, South Africa. Markus has waited nearly 30 years for accessible housing and lives in an overcrowded one-bedroom home with her extended family, including a child who uses a wheelchair. Stairs and limited space make daily life difficult, leaving no room for children to play or move freely.

A family sits outside their wooden wendy house in Manenberg, Cape Town, South Africa. The structure, built by friends who previously lived there, was passed on after they received social housing. It now stands in the backyard of a relative’s property.

Concrete pillars stretch across an empty lot in Manenberg, Cape Town, South Africa. The site was designated for housing development more than a decade ago, but construction never began. Today, graffiti and trash are the only signs of a promise left unfulfilled.