Namibia’s housing crisis and the way it is being handled continues to raise hackles and ruffle feathers. Based on government’s own figures, the mass housing project has not been successful.
Through the N$45 billion initiative, government wanted to build 185 000 houses at a rate of over 10 000 a year between 2013 and 2030. Almost a decade later, and only 4 130 houses have been built while 891 stand unoccupied since the programme was stopped seven years ago.
Namibia has a housing backlog of 300 000.
The initial mass housing project has been marred by inflated prices by contractors, inexperienced contractors not delivering, and ineffective coordination by public institutions. Monitoring and evaluation seemed to be an afterthought.
The fact that almost 900 houses stand idle while thousands live in worse conditions than what those disputed unoccupied houses can offer, should concern all involved.
But all is not lost.
Embarking on an aggressive housebuilding programme could be the ticket out of Namibia’s current precarious economic situation.
The construction industry has been in decline since before the pandemic and weighs on the country’s GDP, especially as it is a large employer of unskilled labour.
Therefore, we should consider using Namibian contractors and materials. You don’t need a multinational to build 20 houses in Otavi. Allow the small local contractors to pitch for the number of houses they can build, and exercise greater oversight.
This country can still provide affordable houses in a relatively short period.
There are a few examples of how to overcome the stumbling blocks in housing. Oshakati in the Oshana region has provided a model of how to release land and bring together big-money developers and small contractors as well as SME service providers like local brickmakers to all get a piece of the action. The town has revived its Build Together programme in 2020 for police officers and soldiers who can not afford houses offered by other institutions and initiatives.
The town is going to build hundreds of houses in the next few years, creating thousands of jobs. With houses come services, rates and taxes for the local authority. There will be a need for shops, clinics and schools, which will revive and expand the local economy.
But the houses will also offer dignity. Often, one cannot apply for services and opportunities without a recognised address. Properties offer an opportunity to access loans and funding (as collateral) to take advantage of business opportunities.
Another good example of how to go about housing the nation is the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN). A success story that shows how even the lowest income-earners can also afford decent houses. The SDFN is a network of savings groups organised in over 900 different groups, with more than 28 000 members countrywide. The SDFN has shown that government needs to rethink the very existence of the National Housing Enterprise. The entity has built fewer than 900 houses since 2016, while it received N$110 million from 2016 to date from government.
We can build ourselves out of trouble, but we must acknowledge that the way we have been going about it is not it.