ELECTION 2019: Housing, urbanisation and urban development

ALL PEOPLE'S PARTY (APP)

• Do away with all informal areas.

• Build apartments and other affordable housing.

• N$2 billion annually for housing with minimum targets for number of plots serviced and houses built.

• Create a national building society for officials and low-income groups.

• Reform and streamline the National Housing Enterprise (NHE).

• Use affordable, local building materials.

• Strict rent control.

• Support beautification and cleaning of all villages.

• Write off all municipal debt for a “new start”.

• Develop and modernise rural areas.



CONGRESS OF DEMOCRATS (CoD)

• Redistribute urban land so that everyone has a plot.

• One-off grant to everyone to purchase a plot.



LANDLESS PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT (LPM)

• Humane and dignified housing for everyone.

• Invest N$200 million in housing at Aussenkehr and initiate a public-private partnership (PPP) to develop the settlement.

• Accelerate the upgrading of informal settlements.

• Title deeds to all so-called “illegal squatters” within 100 days.

• More flexible occupancy and ownership rights in urban areas.

• Prohibition of excessive house prices and speculation.

• State subsidies to first-time buyers.

• Higher taxes on and expropriation of unused plots.

• Land scheme for food production in urban areas.

• Investments in informal markets to bring goods and services closer to the people.

• Mandatory cleaning campaigns.



NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY (NDP)

• Title deeds to homeowners with state subsidies.

• Rental and home purchase subsidies.

• Home loans limited to 10 years.

• Prohibition on repossession of a home if 50% of the loan has been paid.



NATIONAL UNITY DEMOCRATIC ORGANISATION (NUDO)

• The right to housing is a basic human right that is linked with human dignity.

• A decent home and serviced erven for every Namibian - no shacks.

• Vouchers to purchase building materials.

• Resettlement in urban areas.

• Same facilities for rural and urban areas.



POPULAR DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT (PDM)

• The housing crisis impedes upliftment and health.

• Mass social housing projects for tenants and young workers.

• A home for every family by 2026.

• One Namibian, one plot: An erf for every resident of informal settlements who is over 21 and earns less than N$4 500 per month.

• Innovative housing schemes with private-sector credit and interest relief.

• Home-loan guarantee fund and subsidies for first-time and low-income buyers.

• Urban relocation scheme to quell land hunger.

• Manufacturing projects for youth in all constituencies to tame urbanisation.



RALLY FOR DEMOCRACY AND PROGRESS (RDP)

• Replace all shacks with homes that meet UN standards and new national requirements.

• The housing crisis promotes dehumanisation, crime, social decline, poor hygiene and pollution.

• Unaffordable prices and BEE transactions contribute to problems.

• Free plots for young, emerging families.

• Drastic price cuts.

• Subsidise building materials in urban and rural areas.

• Prohibition on auctions.

• Create a competent housing agency.

• Pay subsidies directly to local authorities instead of government companies such as NHE, NamWater and NamPower.



SWANU

• New food and water resources in urban and rural areas.



SWAPO

• Address demand for land and housing more urgently and decisively.

• Improve housing provision, especially for the needy and marginalised.

• Over 12 000 homes built over the past five years - invest more than N$250 million over the next five years to build 6 000 homes.

• Systematic improvement of informal settlements using minimum standards, in collaboration with the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN) and the private sector.

• Improved coordination at national, regional and local levels.

• Provision of affordable plots and homes through the private sector.

• More affordable financing options by banks.

• Better housing for police officers, teachers and nurses.

• SME development in urban and rural areas.

• Better ICT in rural areas.