The Lands Minister, Judith Nabakooba has revealed that Uganda's decent housing deficit currently stands at eight million units.
"Uganda is still has a deficit of more than 8 million housing units and as government we are looking at several stakeholders to fill this gap including the real estate industry," Nabakooba said.
The minister was on Saturday speaking at a function to launch the Olive Homes apartments constructed by Buildnet in Naalya.
In 2020, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics(UBOS) put the deficit of decent housing units in Uganda at 2.1 million, with over 900,000 housing units in the country below standard.
This deficit in terms of quality and quantity is in both rural and urban areas of the country.
Nabakooba said the problem of housing deficit has been exacerbated by the high costs of having decent houses which she noted has left out, especially low end Ugandans from getting decent homes.
The minister however insisted that real estate developers should find a solution to this to ensure even low income earners have decent houses.
"I can see that through the type of the apartments and houses, you are targeting a certain high end type of customers. This is also a good business model, however, I want to encourage you to look out for solutions towards the housing needs of low income earners as well," Nabakooba noted.
"We must work together to ensure that we extend opportunities to all Ugandans regardless of their incomes to be able to have a place they can call a home. Everyone wants to have a good and affordable house; everyone wants to live in a well-planned and safe environment."
Going forward, the minister said if possible, government will be willing to work with the private sector to plan for low cost but decent housing units for low income earners.
"Low income earners can be planned to be housed in other places, not necessarily Naalya but are decent. Working together with private investors like Buildnet, I am sure that we can be able to solve the challenge of housing shortages. This is part of sustainable housing and urbanization that we want to drive."
"Government may not necessarily be with funds to pull it off but we can tap into investors for example we can provide land and investor builds decent housing units that are way cheaper than the current ones. That way we will solve the problem of the housing deficit which keeps growing."
The minister said government is doing its best to ensure the real estate industry thrives in the country.
"Government has already put in place all the relevant policy and legal frameworks including the National Land use Policy, 2009, National Land Policy, 2013, National Housing Policy, 2018; and the National Urban Policy, 2016. All these policies and laws provide a conducive environment for the industry."
"Government is also working hard to ensure that other vital sectors that support the real estate industry such as roads, security, access to water and power are all taken care off."
Nabakooba applauded private investors like Buildnet that she said have come out to utilize the existing good opportunities for the benefit of Ugandans.
Ethics
The minister however called for strengthening of self-regulation measures by the private sector to help weed out crooks.
"As a key sector, you have so many individual players like brokers and investors among other. However, majority of these are not trained and operate without any guidelines, principles and ethics. The industry must be able to have basic professional codes of conduct. The industry must be able to have a system that stipulates punishment for those who go against the code of conduct."
She noted that the public must be in position to know where to report to incase a real estate agent fails to provide the agreed upon services.
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"Basically, the real estate industry needs to win the trust of the public in order for it to realise its best possible outcomes."
Speaking at the same function, the Buildnet Chief Executive Officer, Ibrahim Ssemaganda said the company has invested in building affordable houses for Ugandans but emphasizing quality.
"Quality is what drives our construction operations. All the way from foundation, structure and finishes are all rotating around quality. We pay attention to detail to see our structures last for decades. We strive to innovate ways to ensure we produce these houses within affordable prices,"Ssemaganda said.
Commenting about the 24 housing units in Naalya, the Buildnet CEO said 17 of them are one bedroomed whereas the remaining seven have two bedrooms each.
"They have all luxury finishes as we provide quality and long term value for customers than simply enticing them with lower prices."
