The National Housing Enterprises has prioritised the development of low-cost housing to cater for ultra-low income groups. The houses, which have proven popular amongst beneficiaries, are tailored around affortability and therefore consist of basic but vital structures.

In an exlusive interview with New Era this week, NHE chief Executive Officer Gisbertus Mukulu said the company has taken on a drive towards getting more Namibians to benefit from affortable but quality housing initiatives. 

This comes after realising that despite the company’s housing units being priced low compared to market standards, there was still a need to cater for those with low salaries who may otherwise not afford the set prices. 

This, Mukulu said, gave birth to the housing initiative targeting low and ultra-low income earners.

“Our focus on the low and ultra-low earners market was to make sure a vast majority of Namibians benefit from housing initiatives. 

We have seen many people taking this route and encourage more to come on board for any of the housing initiatives we offer,” the CEO said.

The concept of low cost housing has been often misinterpreted as housing which are of inferior quality and that which would not last.

Mukulu however explained that ‘low cost housing’ refers to a type of housing scheme that enables low income earners to acquire houses from both the central government through more tailored made intitiatives and not nessecaraly by offering collateral as required by most financial institutions.

In order to reduce the cost of the house, but not the standards and quality, appropriate alternative and local building materials are used to construct such ‘low cost houses’. 

The intention is not only to provide shelter to these groups but also to enable these groups to acquire assets that will enhance their living conditions and boost national economic, social and financial growth and ensure peace and stability.

“We want to restore the dignity of Namibians by making their dream of owning a house possible, despite their earning power. 

We all deserve to have a roof over our head and NHE is well positioned to facilitate such process,” he said. 

Mukulu said to ensure affortability of the houses for beneficiaries, the NHE has negotiated with building material suppliers or traders to allow sub-contractors to procure material at much reduced prices.

“We want to make sure that the end user – the owner of the house – gets it at the most affortable houses. As such, we want contractors to buy the raw materials cheaper so that in the end the house production cost is not high,” he said. The towns of Usakos, Ongwediva and Oshakati are amongst those that will benefit from the low and ultra-low cost housing intitiative. 

The project targets ultra-low-income residents who have a monthly income of up to N$3,500 and who own a title deed, lease agreement, or have received a certificate of land occupation in areas that already have basic services but lack the resources to construct a formal