The Housing Burden
THANK you once more for allowing me space in our esteemed newspaper that tells it as it is! I would like to use this platform to embark upon an issue which is of national concern, and this is the insufficiency of land and the complexity of owning a house for the average resident in Windhoek.
If I remember correctly, providing as many affordable houses as is reasonably possible for most (if not all) Namibians, was one of the promises made by our current government. It’s almost 23 years later and the land and housing issue has become more of a concern than before independence One major thing which was erroneous before independence is the fact that we were racially separated or that we were allocated houses in townships based on tribe or race but it was indeed far easier, less stressful and definitely cheaper than the present. If memory serves me right, before independence the colonial government ensured that there was some sort of scheme for providing affordable houses for the average and low income person through corporations like Nasboukor, which soon after independence transformed into National Housing Enterprise (NHE).
For the last 10 years, it’s vision and mission must have changed from the one before. Which leaves us with questions whether NHE houses are still affordable to the average and low income Namibian, and whether we have a corporation in place for providing affordable houses for the average and low income Namibian. Now the City of Windhoek has some sort of scheme which assists low income people and people who form part of a communal (build together) group to be assisted with a loan and there are requirements that should be met. Not only does you application stand a chance to be rejected but the maximum amount that a person qualifies for (which is N$ 30 000.00) in most cases does not even cover all the material you need for a standard two bedroom house with toilet, kitchen and a lounge, so of what use is it if you can’t own a house From my point of view it just causes more debts for a person because to complete your house you might need an extra loan.
One of the requirements for an individual to be considered for the low income list is that your total income should not be more than N$7,000. Now where does this leave the employed average person whose income is more than the requirement with the City of Windhoek but does not qualify enough with the bank to afford a house due to extremely high prices I remember last year before the election of the vice president of the Swapo that minister Jerry Ekandjo was very anxious to emphasise on the insufficiency of land and complexity of owning a house during his campaign. For that fact, I would like to believe that our leaders are aware of the problem the average and low income person is facing in owning a house.
Therefore, I appeal to our leaders in government, parliament and plead that they intervene and see to it that promises made before independence are seen through and in these case that reasonably affordable houses are provided for the average and low income person.
José E Kambinda
Windhoek