The National Housing Enterprise (NHE) says limited serviced land has constrained its ability to deliver affordable housing at full capacity.
NHE spokesperson Mutonga Matali said NHE has all the necessary resources to carry out mass housing delivery, but in the absence of readily available land, they are unable to do so.
“We are still serving our mandate which is providing affordable houses for low and medium-income groups, but we are finding it difficult to do more as Local Authorities are not proactive in providing land,” Matali said.
“We have in the past engaged in developing and constructing. However, this has prolonged the time of delivery. Also the longer you take to deliver, you lose out on clients opting for private developers, though expensive, and then we end up with unoccupied properties.”
At the moment, he said NHE’s backlog is at 100,007 with Windhoek dominating with 33,000, followed by Walvis Bay and Swakopmund with 35,000, and then the Northern regions standing at 22,000.
“There is a substantial amount of money through the National Budget that is geared towards informal settlement upgrading, a programme we are spearheading with the City of Windhoek and Khomas Regional Council in Windhoek. We have seen it working and want to stretch it beyond,” Mutonga said.
“To address the crisis there is a need to flood the market with houses, especially in areas where there is high demand, that way we shall see property prices decline. But that can [only] be done if land is available, as we are able to offer houses for as little as N$90,000 with a repayment of N$600 [monthly instalment].”
He made these remarks during the Sanlam Namibia and The Brief session, dissecting the state of housing in Namibia.
During the discussion, experts overwhelmingly said the country is facing a land and housing crisis, a ticking time bomb that can lead the nation to harbour shanty towns due to high property prices.
Concurring with Mutonga, the House48 Hub Country Director, Kalili Namene, said Local Authorities (LAs) should provide more land for housing development with a forward thinking of the long-term benefits through rates and taxes, instead of focusing on how much they will generate from selling expensive plots.
With a national housing backlog of around 350,000, and if it is to be met requires at least N$250 billion, Namene advised the government and the LAs to devise new ways of servicing land in the shortest period possible and avoid the usage of third-party developers, because the current state takes longer.
“The longer a developer takes to service the land the more expensive it gets, as interest continues to increase on the borrowed funds. Therefore, this pushes the price of the plots and eventually the house because the developer wants to recoup what has been lost through interests. Another issue is, there is a tendency of developers wanting to amass profits on the onset of building the house, which spikes the cost of purchasing a house in the future due to the priced value,” reasoned Namene.
He also raised concern about the proliferation of shacks in the country, which increased from 3% at independence to 34%, warning that if this situation is left unresolved and slips beyond 50%, there will be a serious challenge in eliminating them.
Another panelist, Kamolokamwe Bernardo Project Officer at Namibia Housing Action Group (NHAG) described the housing situation in Namibia as a self-made crisis by greedy individuals and organisations who have turned the need for a place to call home into a commodity, by taking advantage of the socio-economic situation and high demand.
“To resolve this, the government should create a community targeted intervention and fund that can look at servicing plots for the community, especially the ultra-low-income earners, so that there are no overhead costs such as loans and so forth. This can be done together with the community to assist in servicing an identified areas through contributions, thereafter they can build structures with time,” he suggested.
Meanwhile, Keuuavali Neshila, the Director of Kamau Town Planning and Development Specialist, squared the blame on institutions entrusted to provide land and affordable housing, saying there is too much bureaucracy.
“About 20% of the housing backlog problem is a result of local authorities and government, and to some extent communities who are illegally settling on land which is supposed to be developed. Without working together for a common goal, we will not succeed. In addition, reforms should be done and shift to prefabricate houses which take shorter to build and are relatively cheaper as opposed to brick structures that take months to build,” added Neshila.
Another factor to timely delivery, Bernardo said, is the delay in the approval of the housing plan. He said the approval takes about two months, which then prolongs the construction process hence this should be hastened to ensure more structures are built on time.
“Other reforms should be aimed at the willing buyer, the willing seller concept. It is not working as desired because those with massive land are holding on yet there is a need. We have land everywhere in Namibia, but many do not have it. Perhaps the government needs to make amends to the law for just expropriation of the land for the benefit of all,” remarked Bernardo.
