Financing Urban Social Housing In Zimbabwe
Editor, TMR eJournal
Central to the requirements of
SDG 11 is the provision of social housing, but housing remains an elusive basic
commodity for many Zimbabweans. Each economic blueprint adopted by the
Zimbabwean government, as well as each political manifesto makes impressive
promises to deliver on the social housing front but as the years continue to roll,
there is minimal progress there. With a combined population of 2,2 million in
Zimbabwe’s two main urban cities, Harare and Bulawayo (February 2019), combined
applicants on official waiting lists sits at over 500,000. Statistics from
Bulawayo City Council reveal that in the past 15 years, the council has only
managed to service 20,000 stands. At an average cost of USD15,000 to build a
basic low cost house, the local authorities
require USD4,5 billion, that is almost the entire national budget, to
clear this list. As a result, the local authorities have prioritised selling
residential stands for the owners to build for themselves.
But whose responsibility is it
to fund the provision of social housing in Zimbabwe? Realising its own
shortcomings, central government has over the years designed and redesigned a
National Housing Policy that eventually paved way for private sector entrance
in the housing delivery market. The private players have worked hand in hand
with local authorities by acquiring land from council and developing it into
serviced residential stands. Chief among these private players have been real
estate companies as well as financial institutions that have come on strongly
onto the market with mortgages. More recently however, these mortgages have
been scaled down in light of the currency and economic crisis in Zimbabwe. It
has become increasingly clear that private funds made up mostly of diaspora
remittances are what can guarantee one a house or a stand. Traditional housing
co-operatives that were popular in the early 1990s seem to have lost steam too,
probably as a result of our economic downturn.
These Public-Private
Partnerships have helped local authorities to scratch the surface with regards
to housing provision. In the 2019
budget, the government allocated $19 million (in our surrogate currency)
towards the National Housing Delivery programme. This was against the backdrop
of a projected delivery of 40,000 stands and house units country wide. At a
cost of $475 per unit, this is virtually impossible, and it gives a picture of
a budget that is out of touch with reality in terms of unit cost as well as in
addressing the housing backlog alluded to earlier. A further analysis of the
budget reveals that these planned housing units are set aside for the civil
service. No provision has been made for the ordinary Zimbabwean. In the same
budget, the construction of public buildings was allocated $30 million. This
makes it clear that government has prioritised its administrative work spaces
over national housing.
Local authorities were
allocated a combined total of $45 million, with Harare and Bulawayo receiving
$4 million each, it remains to be seen how much of it will go towards social
housing. With service delivery being a contentious issue, we foreseen these
local authorities prioritising road repairs, refuse collection and the
provision of portable water over the provision of housing.
Clearly, we can conclude that
while government has a mandate and will to finance the provision of social
housing, the currency crisis among other economic ills, has made it difficult
to achieve this feat. It is now up to individual developers, financial
institutions and individuals with free funds to meet and do business. Those
without such funds will continue to grace the waiting lists for years to come.
Local authorities should adopt viable PPP models and provide land for these
developers and financiers so that they can assist, albeit in a very small way,
to provide housing to the masses.
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