The Hidden Costs and Disgraceful Barriers to Housing

Recent articles in the media have drawn attention to the high cost of urban housing.

Some are logical and hard to avoid, while others are due to excessive profiteering and party patronage.

But there is another bizarre, little known reason why formal houses are beyond the reach of most aspirant first-time homeowners: they seldom have much capital to invest in a first home.

This is often a consequence of poverty but in Namibia it is more a result of policies and legislation that prevent poorer people from generating capital from property.