Namibian Housing

 

 Hi Guys. In this article today i want to share with you a little bit about my experience with the government housing scheme. As one of the benefits offered to government employees, the Housing Scheme, aslo known as HOSSM is more complicated than it seems.  I was encourgaed to use my housing allowance while i was still young so that i can enjoy the benefits of qualifying for a larger home loan than if I were older. Therefore I decided to apply for the Housing Subsidy and try to purchase a property. Upon applying for the subsidy, i began to understand that the amount the i qualify for was determined by factors such as deductions on my salary, my net pay and loans or additional credits I have outstanding. These all contributed to decreasing the Home Loan amount any bank was willing to grant me. The amount that I qualified for eventually was only enough to purchase a property that either needed additional renovations and constructions, or a property in a town where there i s less...

 Monopoly Housing, also known as Mondesa Heights in Swakopmund is a housing initiative, much like others, aimed at providing affordable housing to residents of Swakopmund. Monopoly Housing boasts about their affordability and their large erven offering the client an opportunity for further extension. The story behind Monopoly Housing is that the initiative offers buyers the opportunity to buy small and affordable, with the possibility to extend or accumulate their assets. This means that once a client buys a property with Monopoly Housing, they are awarded an opportunity to buy another house, and so it continues. This initiative basically supports asset growth by encouraging buyers to buy a house and extend it or to buy more than one house, just like the game Monopoly.  The houses are elegant in design, and have plenty of yard space.     

Osona Village is located approximately 60km north of Windhoek in Okahandja Municipal area. The village is 1100 ha of land and now houses residents in a large scale. According to the Osona Village website, "the aim of this settlement was to construct at least 10 000 homes, a vocational training campus, a light industrial area, land for industrial and commercial buildings and to prepare a concept development plan."  The construction of the homes in Osona village is underway with approximately 1600 housing units currently standing with a  population of about 8000 residents. The houses range from one-bedroom to three-bedroom houses, some with garage space and a garden area.     

In an effort to eliminate the Housing Shortage crisis in the country, the Namibian government launched the Mass Housing project. This was an initiative whereby selected construction firms were tendered to construct low-income homes for the middle to lower level earners in the country. According to an article in the New Era newspaper dated 09.08.2022, politician McHenry Venaani accused the Namibian government of slacking in terms of housing delivery. He stated that 4130 houses were constructed, however 891 of those houses have not yet been allocated to beneficiaries. He went on to explain that Namibians are forced to live in unacceptable living conditions such as shacks, while homes built with taxpayers money are standing unoccupied.  According to PM Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, the homes that have not been allocated are indeed incomplete homes. She added that the homes are still under construction as a result of poor performing contractors who are being dealt with by the court. Abou...

Welcome to my Namibian Housing Blog. My name is Julia Shihepo, I am a resident of Swakopmund, Namibia. I am currently looking into issues related to housing and accommodation within our country. Housing is one of the most pressing matters in our country, with low-income citizens having trouble buying property and middle to high earners having more and more opportunities to purchase property. The reality is that low income citizens are currently struggling to find affordable housing to buy. The municipality has begun to outsource housing projects to various contractors that are tasked with the duty of constructing hundreds of low-cost houses that will be sold to the low-income earners at a low price. The Mass Housing project for example is one of the examples of these programs that the Namibian government has put in place to assist with the housing crisis in the country.  The price of housing in Namibia depends on a few factors including, location, size of erf and house, as well as ...