The National Housing Enterprise (NHE) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Development Workshop Namibia Trust (DWN) to accelerate the delivery of affordable housing for low-income earners across the country.
NHE Chief Executive Officer, Gisbertus Mukulu, stated that the MoU represents a crucial step in ensuring that affordable, quality housing is accessible in urban centers.
“We all agree that many of our people have very limited means to afford houses in this housing market, which is increasingly unfriendly to lower-income groups. It would be unfair to such groups if an institution like the NHE did not seize opportunities to work with NGOs like DWN to sustainably address their housing needs,” Mukulu said.
Acknowledging the challenges posed by rising costs in land delivery and building materials, Mukulu praised the partnership with DWN as timely and potentially transformative.
“The collaboration will complement existing initiatives like the Informal Settlement Upgrading Project (ISUP) and help overcome obstacles to delivering housing to those who need it most,” he added.
DWN’s Country Director, Jessica Brown, emphasized that affordable residential land is critical to addressing the nation’s housing crisis. She detailed DWN’s ongoing efforts to expand land servicing across Namibia, having established partnerships with 19 local authorities to plan and service land at development cost.
“This enables low-income residents to purchase a plot with title, start building their homes, create wealth, and ultimately pass it on to the next generation,” Brown said.
The MoU formalizes the collaboration between NHE and DWN, initiating a pilot project to assess the viability of further cooperation. Both organizations are optimistic that this partnership will significantly contribute to alleviating the housing shortage and improving living conditions for Namibia’s low-income population.
