Accelerating the provision of housing
The National Housing Enterprise (NHE) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Development Workshop Namibia (DWN) Trust aimed at jointly finding ways to accelerate the provision of housing for low-income earners in Namibia.At a ceremony held on Monday, NHE CEO Gisbertus Mukulu underlined the importance of smart partnerships with key players in the housing sector to accelerate the development of affordable and quality homes in urban centres.
"We all agree that many of our citizens have very limited means to afford homes in this housing market that is becoming increasingly unfriendly to lower income groups. It would be unfair to these income groups if an institution like NHE did not take the opportunity to work with NGOs like DWN to meet their housing needs in a sustainable way,” he said.
“We as NHE are experts in building affordable houses, while DWN has experience in providing affordable, serviced land.”
DWN Country Director Jessica Brown said that the availability of affordable housing erven is a key factor in addressing the housing shortage and backlog in Namibia, and called for concerted efforts to accelerate the planning and development of affordable plots.
“In recent years, DWN has expanded its activities across the country. We now has partnership agreements with 19 local authorities on plot planning and maintenance. The erven are sold at affordable prices and can be paid off over a period of one to two years. In this way, low-income residents can acquire a piece of land with title deed, start building their homes, create wealth and ultimately pass it on to the next generation,” Brown said.