Namibia: N$300m Left to Tackle Namibia's Housing Crisis

What the report says

Namibia’s Ministry of Urban and Rural Development says about N$300 million is still available for housing construction, but the money must be divided among 59 local authorities as demand for serviced land and homes continues to rise. The update was presented in Windhoek last Wednesday by the ministry’s deputy director of housing development, Kornelius Taseb, during a briefing to the National Assembly standing committee on urban and rural development and land reform.

According to the report distributed by AllAfrica from The Namibian, the committee had also carried out oversight visits to informal settlements in the Kavango East, Kavango West, Zambezi and Otjozondjupa regions. Taseb said budget limits were restricting the government’s response and that housing finance remained tight. He pointed to informal settlement growth as one of the practical challenges facing the ministry, while saying better planning and research on affordable construction methods could help.

The article places the issue in the context of Namibia’s growing urbanisation. Citing the 2023 Census, it says about half the population lives in urban areas, and ministry figures show that 28.7% of households live in informal dwellings, rising to 40% in urban households. The government’s sixth National Development Plan aims to reduce informal settlement living, expand serviced plots and increase house construction by 2030.

The ministry’s 2026/27 budget includes N$406.5 million for informal settlement upgrading and affordable housing, plus N$20 million each for the Build Together programme and the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia. The report says officials also want to strengthen cooperation with local authorities, the private sector and housing groups as they try to close the housing gap.