11 000 shacks yearly deepen housing crisis … thousands move to towns for greener pastures

Every year, around 11 000 new shacks are erected across Namibia, a staggering figure telling a far more troubling story than any increase in building plans or construction activity.

This is because the continued mushrooming of shacks highlights a housing crisis that deepens in the face of urban migration that is outpacing the ability to provide affordable homes.

Construction insiders believe that until formal housing delivery begins matching the pace at which informal settlements are expanding, the annual addition of new informal dwellings will remain one of the clearest indicators that the housing deficit is still moving in the wrong direction.

While Namibia’s building sector showed encouraging signs of recovery during the first half of 2026, economists at financial firm Simonis Storm warn that Namibia remains nowhere near solving what has become one of its biggest long-term economic and social challenges.

The firm estimates Namibia’s housing deficit has ballooned to around 300 000 homes, nearly four times higher than the estimated backlog of 80 000 units recorded in 2007.