EDITORIAL: Namibia’s housing crisis smaller than claimed – so why does it remain unsolved?

Namibia’s housing crisis is a political, not an economic, problem. If it were economic, private developers would not be putting up entire neighbourhoods within a year or two while the state – with far more land and authority – struggles to deliver even a fraction of its promises. What makes the failure worse is that no one in government seems to know how many housing units are actually needed or who truly needs a home. Politicians speak about the crisis, but its size has never been adequately defined.

A rough calculation using the 2023 census shows that Namibia needs about 160 000 housing units.



The census recorded 3 022 401 people, with 1.49 million in urban areas where the shortage is concentrated. Remove 1.63 million children and youth still living with parents, subtract 350 000 married adults already housed, and exclude 1.53 million rural residents. What remains is the real urban demand: about 560 000 adults in need of homes. Using the official urban household size of 3.5, this becomes 160 000 houses. It is a modest number – easily solvable in 10 years if the state met its promise of 5 000 units annually.