Namibia has announced that it will allocate the unoccupied homes that were constructed under the government Mass Housing Scheme (MHS) to new owners. The homes have been vacant for more than two years now and will be handed over before the end of this financial year.
The Chief Executive Officer of National Housing Enterprise (NHE) Gisbertus Mukulu confirmed the reports and said the houses which are under the Katima Mulilo scheme have been allocated to new owners, however the experienced delay was due to various issues that needed to be ironed out.
Houses under the Mass Housing Scheme
He pointed out that out of 202 houses constructed under the scheme, 89 of the social houses were already handed over, with only seven – despite having owners – yet to be handed over because they have sewer problems, which will soon be resolved.
However, most of the credit-linked houses are yet to be handed over due to the slow processes by banks to approve the housing loans.
The intention of Namibia’s Mass Housing Project is to build 185 000 houses by 2030. The Government through the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development is the custodian of the Mass Housing Development Programme while the NHE has been tasked to allocate and sell all houses constructed. By January 2017, the National Housing Enterprise had allocated approximately 1500 houses to beneficiaries.
The National Housing Enterprise
The National Housing Enterprise (NHE) is a state-owned company under the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development of the Republic of Namibia. Its accountability to the Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development was formalized by the NHE Act of 1993 (Act No 5 of 1993) as amended.
