NHE pours cold water on 10 000 houses target

The National Housing Enterprise (NHE) has dismissed urban and rural development minister James Sankwasa's call to build 10 000 houses a year, saying its official annual target is just 2 000 units.

The response was given months after Sankwasa publicly questioned the state-owned housing developer's relevance, criticised its pace of delivery and warned that the institution risks failing its mandate.

NHE spokesperson Mutonga Matali told Namibian Sun Sankwasa's call should be viewed as a broader national housing goal involving multiple stakeholders rather than a target assigned exclusively to NHE.

"It is important to clarify that the official target communicated by the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development to NHE is 2 000 housing units annually," Matali said.

He said the 10 000 target forms part of a coordinated effort involving local authorities, government ministries, financiers and private contractors under the Informal Settlement Upgrading Affordable Housing Programme (ISUAHP).

He added that engineering designs for civil and electrical services covering 4 215 erven in various localities have already been completed, with implementation now awaiting budget allocations from the ministry during the 2026/27 financial year.

"NHE is ready to scale up delivery in a structured and sustainable manner," he said.

Nearly 100 housing units were completed between November last year and March this year, most of them in Swakopmund and Walvis Bay under the ISUAHP programme through an accelerated delivery model involving multiple contractors.

Criticism

NHE's comments come against the backdrop of sharp criticism levelled by Sankwasa eight months ago during the handover of 52 NHE-built houses in Okakarara.

"At the beginning of my term, I directed the NHE to give me at least two thousand houses for this year. I have not received any feedback until now," Sankwasa said.

He stressed that the 2 000 houses were expected to be entirely new projects.

The minister questioned whether NHE was moving fast enough to address Namibia's acute housing shortage and warned that failure to achieve its mandate raised questions about the institution's continued existence.

"I expect NHE to be constructing at least 10 000 houses annually," Sankwasa declared.

The pressure on NHE has been compounded by its own financial challenges.

Namibian Sun previously reported that an internal memorandum from chief financial officer Beverly Vugs warned that the enterprise was facing serious liquidity and cash flow constraints, limiting its ability to initiate new capital projects.

[email protected]