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Want some insight in Namibian politics? I am no expert but have 16 years (1995-2011) of writing on Namibian politics in The Namibian newspaper and can probably offer you a bit more than you know about the who's who in the Namibian political zoo. You will also find a few articles commenting on other issues of concern in the country. Hope you find it interesting. - Christof

Friday, July 1, 2011

Thousands Without A Place To Call Home

AT Independence Windhoek had a housing backlog for 7 000 people.

At the same time housing was identified as one of the priority areas of development alongside education, health and agriculture.
A decade and a half later the housing shortage in the whole country had reached 80 000 units while we have seen increased mushrooming of informal settlements all over the country.
By then it was already clear that the country’s system was failing to enable the poor to shift from survival mode into the mainstream economy which included affording a proper roof over their heads.
If the trend continues, estimates are that we might be burdened with a housing shortage of 300 000 units by the year 2030. According to estimates in Vision 2030, we will have a population of about three million by that time. It means the country needs roughly 14 000 new houses each year to keep up with population growth.
There are several reasons for the increased housing backlog. When the country became independent 21 years ago only 27 per cent of the population was urbanised.
With increased job opportunities in urban areas, especially the main centres, the number has grown to 33 per cent 10 years later and by last year the estimates were 50 per cent.
The result is that a whopping 75 per cent of the population will be living in urban areas by 2030, if nothing drastic is done to counter the huge migration.
It is no secret, and we don’t need another million-dollar national conference to point it out, that the major factor contributing to the rural-to-urban migration is the search for better social and economic opportunities.
The upward trajectory of housing prices have also fuelled the crisis.
In most cases such high prices were artificially inflated by housing agents (through things such as high commission) and land providers such as the City of Windhoek, Walvis Bay and Swakopmund who prey on the high demand.
Well-off foreigners who buy with cash have also contributed to the rise in prices of housing, especially in bigger towns.
But the snail-like progress in providing proper housing is becoming a real indictment on all those involved in the provision of housing - from the policy-makers right down to the local authorities who over-price erven unnecessarily.
Affordable and decent housing has become a real uphill battle to close the huge housing backlog.
It is worsened by, for instance, high levels of poverty and unemployment, limited capital investment, spiralling building costs and little financial support for low- and middle-income groups.
That is why a conference like the one which took place this week should not look at the education problem in isolation. Since the education system produces a large pool of unskilled and uneducated adults, it has catastrophic consequences for the future of a country whose developmental goals are already being severely hampered by an acute housing shortage.
As a home is usually an individual’s single most valuable economic asset and ownership is a traditional entry point into the formal economy, the provision of services such as land, water and electricity needs to be stepped up.
There is an explicit need to bring about redress and redistribution, but funding allocations have also been skewed in favour of the poorest while the middle class has lost out as cities and towns tend to concentrate a lot on servicing erven for shacks, build-together programmes and for the upmarket sector.
Such cities tend to cash in by servicing land in elite areas to sell at exorbitant prices as well as for the poor at very low rates but forget to cater for the majority of the working class, most of whom struggle to rent a flat, house or room.
So, a cursory examination shows that while some benefits have accrued through build-together programmes and low-cost housing projects, real problems remain as thousands do not have places they can call home.

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