Achieving affordable housing in SADC

Lazarus Sauti

Africa is the second-largest and second most populous continent on earth with an estimated population in 2013 of 1.033 billion people. Due to its ballooning population, the continent is faced with poverty challenges.

However, the continent’s efforts toward poverty alleviation will yield minimal results unless immediate measures are taken to address the issue of housing – a basic human right.

Housing is inadequate in most African countries and as a result millions of citizens live in substandard environments or slums which lack basic amenities.

The Southern African Development Community region is also heavily affected by housing challenges. Low-income earners in the region are still marginalised and in desperate need of adequate housing due to the rising costs and difficulty in securing mortgage finance.

Housing problems can be attributed to lack of priority on the allocation of resources and unavailability of land, energy, finance and manpower. Because of this, the formation of housing cooperatives in many SADC member states has not entirely solved the problem.

This, however, demands strong commitment from governments to provide citizens with an equal footing for the development of affordable housing in the region.

“There is need for dedication from governments to offer citizens with a level playing ground for the development of the housing sub-sector,” says Winifred Oyo- Ita, a distinguished Nigerian public administrator.

She goes on to say, “Achieving affordable housing requires solid resolve on the part of governments, public and private sectors as well as citizens.”

This determination further calls for appropriate collaborations in the building and construction industry; meaning all stakeholders must improve the quality of life in both rural and urban areas simply by taking advantage of modern technologies available for roofing, walling and internal, as well as, external flooring.

Furthermore, for countries in the SADC region to achieve sustainable and affordable housing for all, a new thinking cap needs to be put on by those saddled with the responsibility of implementing national housing policies.

This means policy decision makers and development players in the housing sector, banks, private developers, primary mortgage institutions, civil society organisations and public and private sector players must rise to the occasion to ensure that every citizen can afford as well as find the modalities for accessing loans to build their homes easy and palatable.

Zimbabwe’s Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo agrees and notes that governments should ensure title deeds (essential in housing) are accessible to citizens so that they can apply for loans from banks.

“Governments should make sure that title deeds are available and the banks can have what they call collateral…Governments should have housing programmes or schemes that are properly funded with decent mortgage facilities available on which the beneficiaries can choose that which suits their pockets,” notes Chombo.

Arresting housing challenges in the region can also be done through the crafting and implementation of robust housing policies, and in crafting these policies, decision makers, experts and stakeholders in the built environment need to focus on the provision of mass housing in a decent, safe and healthy environment.

More so, in developing appropriate policies and strategies, regulatory and institutional frameworks for efficient land administration should be in sync with the provision of affordable mass housing.

Oyo- Ita believes: “Governments should use crafted strategies to ensure rapid transformation of rural areas, towns and cities into livable, inclusive and productive communities that will also contribute more positively to the development of the region.”

It is also the mandate of governments and other key stakeholders in the housing sector to promote, protect and ensure the full and progressive realisation of the right to adequate housing in countries within the region.

Housing is a basic social need after food and clothing, and adequate housing is a pre-requisite to national socio-economic development.

Because of this, the right to housing is recognised in a number of international human rights instruments.

Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognises the right to housing as part of the right to an adequate standard of living and it provides: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing…”

The right to housing is also enshrined in the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights under articles 14 (the right to property), 16 (the right to highest attainable standard of mental and physical health) and 18 (1) (protection accorded to family).

Therefore, political and business leaders together with other development partners in the SADC region should work with the United Nations Habitat to develop benchmarks and monitoring systems to protect families, improve housing, raising the highest attainable standard of living for citizens, and promoting security, health, wealth and the welfare of the region.