Published by the government of Zimbabwe
7 October 2008
Harare — ZIMBABWE needs to double its current urban housing capacity in order to improve living conditions, a Government sponsored research has established.
According to the Zimbabwe Urban Housing Database launched at Town House yesterday during World Habitat Day commemorations being held under the theme, Harmonious Cities, there is a serious shortage of urban housing where 667 571 houses are currently occupied by 4 760 132 people.
This leaves Zimbabwe in need of an estimated 542 630 housing units.
The occupancy rate per housing unit in Harare, Chitungwiza and Epworth stands at 22, 20 and 9 respectively indicating a high incidence of overcrowding with the national average occupancy rate standing at six per housing unit.
People in formal employment can not afford decent housing while those in the informal sector can buy houses.
Twenty-nine urban councils submitted information for the database.
This year's theme stresses the need to deliver water, sanitation, electricity, health care and education.
Minister of Local Government, Public Works and Urban Development Cde Ignatius Chombo challenged local authorities, architects, engineers, land developers and legislators who attended the launch to devise measures that enable people in the formal sector to access housing.
"A very disturbing scenario revealed by the study is that applicants from the formal sector are not able to afford decent housing at current costs and that people in the informal sector can instead afford to buy houses," he said.
Cde Chombo also made reference to a study by
the University of Zimbabwe on the Regulatory Framework Bottlenecks for Low-cost Housing Delivery in Zimbabwe.
He said the plan approval process that includes
layout plans, cadastral surveys, building plans and issuance of certificates of occupation was long and frustrating.
The process should be speeded up to entice investors into the housing sector.
Cde Chombo said the building inspection process should be reviewed to expedite construction and that some councils were not implementing policy changes on housing standards to facilitate construction of low cost housing.
The local authorities are yet to amend their existing legislation and by-laws in line with the new policies.
He challenged delegates to examine existing laws and identify those that need amendments.
Cde Chombo said financing for low cost housing should not reside with the public sector.
"There is need to come up with policies and measures that attract private finance in low cost housing," he said.
He gave an example of Government's policy of abolishing rent control regulations on new rental housing for the first 10 years but said the policy had failed to attract meaningful investment in the sector.
It was difficult, Cde Chombo said, to grow the economy without the involvement of the private sector.
"There is need to critically examine our policies to come up with incentives that attract private investment in the housing sector. Our focus should be on private sector participation in housing development," he said.
UN-Habitat programme manager Mr Peter Mutavati said the theme of the celebrations was to bring awareness on the challenges of rapid urbanisation.
He said although half the world population was now in urban areas searching for better living conditions, Zimbabwe was still in a position to avoid the growth of slum settlements that characterise some regional and world capitals if all stakeholders work together in addressing the challenges of urbanisation.
"The UN is here to work with Government and local authorities to create harmonious cities. Zimbabwean cities have a great potential to offer improved services to the people," he said.
Harare Metropolitan Governor and Resident Minister Cde David Karimanzira said Government's commitment to housing delivery was unquestionable as evidenced by the massive housing programmes embarked on during the prevailing economic challenges.
He urged those who attended the launch and participants at a one-day symposium held soon after the launch on housing delivery to work together and build a Zimbabwe that we all want.
Harare mayor Mr Muchadeyi Masunda, who also attended the launch, reiterated the need for providing off-site infrastructure to spur housing delivery.
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