Housing in Namibia needs serviced land, not just loans
On 31 March 2026, the Presidential Task Force on Land, Housing and Sanitation submitted its report to President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.
Lazarus Kwedhi
On 31 March 2026, the Presidential Task Force on Land, Housing and Sanitation submitted its report to President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.
After months of consultations and the commitment of state resources, its housing recommendations sound familiar: establish a Mortgage Bank, support National Housing Enterprise (NHE), strengthen Build Together, promote Alternative Building Technologies, and scale up PPPs and employer housing schemes.
The recommendations are disappointing. Instead of providing alternative solutions, they reproduce the current housing crisis in a different shape, but with the same taste. On paper, it looks like action.
On the ground, it feels like “new packaging, same players.” The task force fails to grasp the true intention of our current housing legal frameworks and the primary mandate of the institutions responsible for financing urban serviced land.
As a result, it fails to harmonise the relationship between all key stakeholders to address the housing needs of employees, employers, and the general public – specifically: accessibility and affordability to serviced land ownership and the right to build houses of their choice.
