The Namibian government identified housing as a
priority area in 1990 and considers housing as both an
enabler of economic growth and a tool for reducing
poverty by creating sustainable communities. A
National Housing Policy has been in place since 1991
and this was reviewed and updated in 2009. Despite
the many components provided in the policy and the
awareness of the issues within government, few
elements of the policy have been taken forward and
little has been achieved in the last twenty years to clear
the backlog in housing.
Government targets consist of a plethora of statements
in different policy documents and announcements.
Most targets have not been met, although this is
difficult to analyse as little information is provided on
the achievements of targets of the largest governmentfunded
programme, the Build Together programme. In
terms of government expenditure on housing, it is
currently at a historically low point: 0.3% of national
expenditure in Namibia is allocated to housing
compared to 2% in South Africa.
The delivery of housing units through the National
Housing Enterprise has been slowing down, and has
never met its target of 1,200 houses per year. Most
recent data shows an average of 253 houses per year
between 2003 and 2011, compared to an average of 600
houses per year during 1990 and 2002. In addition,
government contributions to governmental housing
projects, such as the National Housing Enterprise and
the Build Together programme, seem less efficient than
contributions to the Shack Dwellers Federation of
Namibia, who delivered 366 houses in 2009/2010, for
less than 25 percent of the government contribution per
house in the National Housing Enterprise or Build
Together schemes.
The key challenge in delivery of housing in Namibia is
the lack of available serviced land, which is both
slowing down the process of housing delivery and
pushing up prices of serviced land. The limited
availability of serviced land is mainly due to a lengthy
and outdated approval process for proclamation,
surveying, subdivision and registration of land, limited
financial capacity at local authorities and a lack of
surveyors and other qualified personnel at local levels.
Although government is taking steps to provide the
National Housing Enterprise with capital to service
land, limited action has been taken on the promised
shortening of the land approval process to six months,
as stated in the National Housing Policy.