In order to arrest the escalating housing situation, the Namibian Government has been leading national efforts aimed at accelerating the delivery of land and housing in the country with special focus on the needs of the lower and middle income groups.

These national efforts have been summed up under the Mass Housing Development Programme (MHDP).

The Programme was adopted in 2013 following the approval of the Programme’s Blueprint by Cabinet in that same year. Through the Programme, the Government seeks to rally national efforts in order to bring about an accelerated production and supply of the housing stock in the country through increased investment in the housing sector in general and particularly to meet the needs of the lower income groups.

In terms of the Blueprint, the programme targets the construction and delivery of a total of 185,000 housing units by the year 2030. This translates into an average of 10,300 houses per annum.

Given the complex nature of the housing situation as well as the direct link between the housing and land delivery, the Mass Housing Development Programme proposes an integrated and multi-pronged approach consisting of the following interrelated sub-programmes:

• Land delivery – Land use planning, design and infrastructure development (reinforced through the introduction of the Massive Urban Land Servicing Project);
• Development of credit-linked or conventional housing products;
• Development of social/subsidized housing;
• Informal settlement upgrading;
• Community-based housing development;
• Rural housing and sanitation; and
• Reform of the legislative, regulatory and policy environment as well as capacity building related to housing and land delivery.

In order to achieve the Programme objectives, a mixed financing model has been identified and is proposed. This consists of four major sources of funding:

This entails the Government, within its resource capacity, providing annual grants towards land development, building input cost mitigation, rural sanitation and programme management.

This entails turnkey funding and construction solutions by the private sector on terms agreed upon with the Government or its agencies. It also includes end-user or mortgage financing by commercial banks.

The programme also recognises the option of debt financing through conventional way of borrowing to finance part of the housing stock to be delivered, particularly for housing products meant for the middle to upper income categories.

Group (community) savings and lending schemes such as the one operated by the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN).