Windhoek youth face housing shortages, high living costs

Young people continue to flock to urban centres in search of opportunity, only to encounter housing shortages, high living costs and limited access to services.

The result is a growing sense that cities are becoming spaces of exclusion rather than inclusion and upward mobility.

Informal settlements, meanwhile, continue to mushroom, often without reliable transport, sanitation or safe recreational spaces. For young people, this reality directly affects access to education, jobs and community life.

“Urban poverty does not merely delay educational and career progress; it actively forecloses opportunities,” said Jessy Abraham, spokesperson for the Namibia National Students Organisation (Nanso).

Abraham placed students at the centre of the crisis, describing housing as the single biggest pressure point.

She said the absence of rent control and delays in delivering student accommodation have turned the situation critical.

“Students face exploitative rental markets in the absence of proper rent control legislation, with the accommodation crisis reaching catastrophic levels."

Despite budgetary approval for a student village in the 2022/2023 financial year, progress has stalled.

“Nanso has long advocated for the construction of a student village… yet this promise remains unfulfilled," Abraham added.

Housing insecurity, the student organisation argues, is inseparable from academic performance and good mental health.

“When students spend the majority of their time and mental energy worrying about where they will stay… their capacity and motivation to study diminishes substantially," Abraham stressed.

“Adequate housing is not a luxury but essential infrastructure," she added.

Living conditions further compound the problem. Overcrowding has become routine, with dignity and productivity eroded in the process. “Shared rooms have become the norm rather than the exception," Abraham noted.

The big city squeeze

Transport costs operate as a quieter but equally decisive barrier. Students frequently face impossible trade-offs between rent, food and mobility.

“Students skip classes, miss valuable internship and job opportunities… simply because they cannot afford transport," the Nanso spokesperson explained.

Beyond housing and transport, Nanso highlights economic and digital exclusion.

Many young people lack access to IT facilities, media literacy and professional networks, barring them from opportunities before they can even apply.

The burden falls heaviest on those from rural areas, who arrive in cities without the same social capital.

“There is no reason why Hatago from Khorixas should not have the same opportunities as Iyaloo from Windhoek," Abraham underlined.

Surviving in shacks

Data from the Namibian Statistics Agency (NSA) reinforces the scale of the pressure.

While the 2023 NSA census does not directly track urban–rural migration, the growth of the urban youth population is clear. “The urban youth population increased by 48.6% between 2011 and 2023,” the NSA confirmed.

Nearly two in five urban youth – 35.8% – live in informal dwellings or shacks.

Unemployment is also higher in cities than in rural areas, challenging the assumption that urban migration guarantees work, NSA statistics show.

At the same time, the lack of youth-specific data on housing costs, transport and access to services creates a policy blind spot.

“There is currently no data that informs transport and mobility challenges affecting youth," the census noted.

The agency warns that without intervention, the likely outcome is “cities becoming more crowded, unequal and strained.”

Youth-centred action missing

The City of Windhoek acknowledged that youth-driven migration is reshaping the capital, with their plans focused primarily on long-term spatial planning.

“The City of Windhoek is responding to rapid urbanisation driven largely by migration through integrated spatial and infrastructure planning aligned with its Urban Structure Plan 2021–2041," City spokesperson Lydia Amutenya said in a statement.

Housing interventions focus on income bands rather than on youth specifically, she explained.

“The City of Windhoek’s affordable housing programme targets low- to middle-income earners and provides housing typologies priced between N$300 000 and N$650 000.”

Informal settlement upgrading prioritises basic services and tenure security.

“Upgrading is guided by the City’s phased informal settlement upgrading strategy, which prioritises structured land delivery, tenure security, and service installation," Amutenya noted.

Transport improvements remain conditional. “Municipal bus expansion into informal settlements is contingent on road formalisation," Amutenya explained.

Youth economic inclusion is addressed mainly through training and capacity building, she added.

“The Start Your Business programme provided hands-on training in financial planning, costing, marketing and business operations.”

A tight window

Urban youth are moving faster than housing delivery, transport systems and planning frameworks can keep up with. Without youth-centred data and targeted interventions, cities risk deepening inequality rather than unlocking their potential.

As one warning captures the stakes, “A high NEET (young people who are neither in employment nor in education and training) rate signals complete disengagement of youth from economic activity.”

The question facing Namibia’s cities is no longer whether young people will continue to arrive, but whether urban systems will adapt quickly enough to include them.