Can Namibia Deliver on Its Promise of 50 000 Homes?

DELIVERING HOUSING opportunities for 50 000 families has the potential to positively transform our urban areas.

As a land administration professional, I’ve witnessed the resilience of residents in informal settlements, who are more than willing to contribute to their own housing development.

The land delivery task force to be established under president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s administration offers a key opportunity to improve Namibian lives.

This initiative could really get to grips with the urgent housing needs of a huge section of our urban population.

Think about it: Around 70% of households in our towns and cities live in informal settlements. They often don’t have proper homes, and only limited basic services. 

This initiative can’t be a ‘small tweak’. It needs to represent a change in how we do things.

SECURITY AND ACCESS

It aims to move away from just allocating large chunks of land, and building market-rate houses, to a people-centred model that centres affordability, security of tenure and access to basic services for low-income households.

This scaling up is guided by the revised National Housing Policy (2023).

It incorporates land administration – basically, how we record and share information about land ownership and use – to help fix our housing shortage.
Some of the important operational strategies include:

• Organising Land Information: A strong Namibia Housing Information System is being built.
• This means access to solid data to make smart decisions about who gets land, what people really need and how the programmes are doing. It’ll help put resources where they’re most effective.
  To make this work, local councils countrywide need to get their data collection in shape to accurately reflect the housing situation on the ground.
• Smart Planning: The emphasis is on planning at the local level.
  This means designing towns and cities to include housing alongside other important urban developments, ensuring we use land wisely for all types of homes, amenities and businesses.
  Planning settlements that fit what residents need rests with the local authorities.
• Connecting With Communities: This is a global best practice. Talking and working with communities when informal settlements are planned and upgraded opens the door to facilitating land efficiently.
• It also ties in with urban land reform, better land security and people’s right to develop their own land.
• Sustainability: We must ensure land is developed in an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable way.
• Synchronising Laws and Rules: It’s important that our policies and government bodies are on the same page. When they are, it cuts costs and makes land administration much more efficient.
• Subsidy Framework: Making housing affordable is key to long-term solutions. A subsidy framework will give targeted financial help for housing, perhaps even assisting with buying land or servicing costs for those who need it most.

SHIFTING GEARS

It is important to understand that housing is a process and depends on implementing efficient and effective land administration at local level – ensuring secure tenure, efficient allocation and transparent governance.

This is crucial for Namibia’s housing policy to succeed.

Scaling up housing delivery requires integrating the fundamental principles of sustainable development, reducing poverty through security of tenure and creating inclusive cities. 

Secure tenure is vital for building generational wealth and encouraging investment.
Why? Among others, it prevents people from being unfairly evicted.

When land ownership is shaky, it costs the government more in terms of health, education and environmental management.

Namibia’s strategy needs to focus on affordable, legal options like the Flexible Land Tenure Act and development rights.
It’s about understanding that there’s a range of land rights and we need to keep track of all of them.

The 2023 housing policy is shifting gears from the government being the sole builder to enabling a variety of people to get involved, including residents themselves, through partnerships.

Namibia already has good initiatives like the Informal Settlement Upgrading Affordable Housing Pilot Project and the impressive Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia.

Nonetheless, we face a huge hurdle: We need about 10 000 new housing units a year until 2030.

But here’s the good news: With a clear strategy, a dedicated team of experienced experts and putting people’s needs before profits it is totally doable.

IMPORTANT MOMENT

The goal of delivering 50 000 homes is more than a number; it’s a promise to help change lives, to get people ahead financially and build stronger and fairer communities.

To succeed, we must stick to the people-centred approach set out in the National Housing Policy.

It means ensuring people have secure land ownership, embracing innovative ways to upgrade informal settlements with community involvement, and constantly improving local land administration systems.

Local systems are the very foundation of housing delivery.

Significant challenges lie ahead but we now have a plan which offers a clear way forward, a plan which aims to turn the dream of a safe and dignified home into a reality for tens of thousands of Namibians.

– Natsaantu Kefas is a land professional. He grew up in Windhoek’s Havana informal settlement which fuelled his passion to solve Namibia’s housing and land challenges. He has an honours degree in land administration from the namibia University of Science and Technology.

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