ONGWEDIVA – A total of 26 000 people in the northern regions are in demand of National Housing Enterprises (NHE) houses.

The northern regions that are administered under the NHE north office are Omusati, Oshana, Ohangwena, Oshikoto and the town of Tsumeb.

The figures were mentioned by NHE CEO Gisbertus Mukulu during a media engagement event that was held at Afrika Stadt Haus Hotel in Ongwediva over the weekend.

According to Mukulu, the high demand for houses is not just in the northern regions, but it is a national problem, as over 100 000 people are in demand for houses nationally.

He maintained they cannot meet the high demand because the housing backlog is huge and cannot be addressed in a short period of time, and that they need a collective effort from all stakeholders to tackle the issue.

“Within the limited resources we have, we are able to provide what we can provide. The demand for housing, in general, is everywhere – and the highest demand for housing is in Windhoek. Housing is a national issue that needs to be tackled at a national level. We have revisited our models and strategies, and our efforts will bear fruit very soon,” said Mukulu.

Mukulu highlighted that the demand is high because their houses are cheap and their mandate for providing houses to low, ultra-low- and medium-income earners makes a lot of people want to access NHE cheap housing.

“We are the lowest when it comes to interest rates in the market, and our houses are of high quality. We are in the space where we want to match the demand and the need for houses that we want to flood the market so that we can tackle the housing issue,” said Mukulu.

He further mentioned that for NHE to build more houses, they need all house players to work together for one common goal.

“For NHE to build houses, we need land from Local Authorities – be it serviced or unserviced land. We prefer serviced land because it fast-tracks the process, and has more impact on more clients. Most town councils are coming on board to make sure that land is made available to the enterprise because – at the end of the day, we are all focusing on the same issue, which is to provide housing to the Namibian people,” said Mukulu.

Mukulu concluded that those in the housing fraternity should work together for the betterment of the people.

NHE has constructed 18 000 houses nationwide – and so far, it has 3 000 houses handed over through the mass housing programme.

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