Windhoek delivers 520 homes, sets sights on more
Tackles housing and land backlogs
The City of Windhoek says the more than 500 houses will provide a much-needed home for around 2 600 residents.
The City of Windhoek has announced that it has delivered over 520 houses to residents as part of its Informal Settlement Upgrading Programme, with thousands more set to benefit from newly surveyed land and formal relocation processes.
The announcement was made during a pre-stakeholder engagement meeting on Wednesday, attended by representatives from the Windhoek West and East communities, as well as the Windhoek Ratepayers and Taxpayers Association.
According to the City, the houses delivered under the scheme are expected to provide secure shelter for approximately 2 600 residents.
Meanwhile, the municipality said a further eight additional have been completed through the council’s internal housing programme.
Though modest in scale, this initiative is vital to maintaining targeted delivery for vulnerable residents not covered by national programmes, the City said.
New townships
In the area of land provision, significant strides have been made in both surveying and township declaration, the municipality added.
It confirmed that six new townships had been proclaimed in the past year, including four brownfield developments aimed at integrating already-settled areas into Windhoek's formal planning framework.
In addition to these efforts, 473 erven were serviced in greenfield locations, forming part of a broader plan to open up land for residential development.
In Groot Aub, now a part of the City of Windhoek’s administrative boundary, 646 plots were surveyed and 636 were beaconed.
The City indicated that this work forms a key component of efforts to bring historically peripheral areas in line with Windhoek’s spatial development plans, allowing residents to secure tenure and eventually benefit from formal services.
Further cadastral work was completed in Khomasdal extensions and in areas such as Havana Extension 8, where over 250 plots were formally surveyed, the municipality stated.
Pooling resources
The City has also entered into several partnerships to accelerate service delivery.
These include memorandums of understanding signed with the urban and rural development ministry, the National Housing Enterprise, the Khomas Regional Council and the National Housing Action Group.
The partnerships are focused on pooling resources and aligning mandates to avoid duplication in land servicing, social housing delivery and relocation planning.
In terms of resettlement, the municipality presented progress data for several informal settlements undergoing formalisation or relocation.
In the Ghanzi Area of Otjomuise, 94% of residents have now been successfully relocated.
Mix Settlement Extension 1 has seen nearly 88% of targeted households moved to safer locations, while in Okatunda, on Erf 2315, a 91% relocation rate was recorded.
Efforts are ongoing in other flood-prone areas such as Farm 1008 and parts of Havana Extensions 8 and 11, near Peter Nanyemba Road.
Visible results expected
Officials maintained that the City's spatial growth and housing interventions are guided by the urban structure plan, which seeks to ensure that expansion is matched with basic services and legal tenure.
While demand for land in Windhoek continues to outstrip supply, officials believe the City's upgraded township establishment processes, alongside national partnerships, will begin to show more visible results in the coming financial periods.
The City acknowledged that land delivery remains a politically sensitive and socially urgent issue but emphasised that it is working within technical, legal and budgetary constraints.
It further confirmed that the draft urban structure plan would be shared with residents later this month, forming part of a broader consultative process to shape the capital’s future footprint.
The announcement was made during a pre-stakeholder engagement meeting on Wednesday, attended by representatives from the Windhoek West and East communities, as well as the Windhoek Ratepayers and Taxpayers Association.
According to the City, the houses delivered under the scheme are expected to provide secure shelter for approximately 2 600 residents.
Meanwhile, the municipality said a further eight additional have been completed through the council’s internal housing programme.
Though modest in scale, this initiative is vital to maintaining targeted delivery for vulnerable residents not covered by national programmes, the City said.
New townships
In the area of land provision, significant strides have been made in both surveying and township declaration, the municipality added.
It confirmed that six new townships had been proclaimed in the past year, including four brownfield developments aimed at integrating already-settled areas into Windhoek's formal planning framework.
In addition to these efforts, 473 erven were serviced in greenfield locations, forming part of a broader plan to open up land for residential development.
In Groot Aub, now a part of the City of Windhoek’s administrative boundary, 646 plots were surveyed and 636 were beaconed.
The City indicated that this work forms a key component of efforts to bring historically peripheral areas in line with Windhoek’s spatial development plans, allowing residents to secure tenure and eventually benefit from formal services.
Further cadastral work was completed in Khomasdal extensions and in areas such as Havana Extension 8, where over 250 plots were formally surveyed, the municipality stated.
Pooling resources
The City has also entered into several partnerships to accelerate service delivery.
These include memorandums of understanding signed with the urban and rural development ministry, the National Housing Enterprise, the Khomas Regional Council and the National Housing Action Group.
The partnerships are focused on pooling resources and aligning mandates to avoid duplication in land servicing, social housing delivery and relocation planning.
In terms of resettlement, the municipality presented progress data for several informal settlements undergoing formalisation or relocation.
In the Ghanzi Area of Otjomuise, 94% of residents have now been successfully relocated.
Mix Settlement Extension 1 has seen nearly 88% of targeted households moved to safer locations, while in Okatunda, on Erf 2315, a 91% relocation rate was recorded.
Efforts are ongoing in other flood-prone areas such as Farm 1008 and parts of Havana Extensions 8 and 11, near Peter Nanyemba Road.
Visible results expected
Officials maintained that the City's spatial growth and housing interventions are guided by the urban structure plan, which seeks to ensure that expansion is matched with basic services and legal tenure.
While demand for land in Windhoek continues to outstrip supply, officials believe the City's upgraded township establishment processes, alongside national partnerships, will begin to show more visible results in the coming financial periods.
The City acknowledged that land delivery remains a politically sensitive and socially urgent issue but emphasised that it is working within technical, legal and budgetary constraints.
It further confirmed that the draft urban structure plan would be shared with residents later this month, forming part of a broader consultative process to shape the capital’s future footprint.
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