EDITORIAL: Namibia’s obsession with bricks
Our housing crisis in Namibia is in part exacerbated by our obsession with brick structures. Even amid a push for eco-friendly housing structures, Namibians will not settle until they live beneath mountains of brick, cement and corrugated iron.
Speaking at a land conference last week in Rehoboth, the National Housing Enterprise (NHE) disclosed that it had been considering venturing into the informal housing market. But the real question is whether they'll bring truckloads of bricks or some other kind of material with them when they descend on Havana and Babylon.
High property prices and a soaring housing supply backlog are creating opportunities for private sector developers, while worsening the overall housing situation in the country. Over 300 000 citizens are in the queue for housing provision, but the Stone Age mentality that bricks will cement the real feeling of being housed will only make the queue longer.
Clearly by design, we have casually disregarded more affordable housing options and materials for our people. A model two-bedroom house at Hope Village Orphanage in Katutura was constructed in 2015 by three Namibians and their Dutch partner using Ytong aerated concrete slabs and an industrial adhesive called Silka calcium silicate. But here is the kicker: It was completed in three days.
Unfortunately, this efficiency and affordability disrupts the commercial ambitions of our property developers – who include our leaders and decision-makers. Bringing cheaper solutions would shake their pockets, so the poor must either continue living in squalor or cough up to enrich the masters.
Speaking at a land conference last week in Rehoboth, the National Housing Enterprise (NHE) disclosed that it had been considering venturing into the informal housing market. But the real question is whether they'll bring truckloads of bricks or some other kind of material with them when they descend on Havana and Babylon.
High property prices and a soaring housing supply backlog are creating opportunities for private sector developers, while worsening the overall housing situation in the country. Over 300 000 citizens are in the queue for housing provision, but the Stone Age mentality that bricks will cement the real feeling of being housed will only make the queue longer.
Clearly by design, we have casually disregarded more affordable housing options and materials for our people. A model two-bedroom house at Hope Village Orphanage in Katutura was constructed in 2015 by three Namibians and their Dutch partner using Ytong aerated concrete slabs and an industrial adhesive called Silka calcium silicate. But here is the kicker: It was completed in three days.
Unfortunately, this efficiency and affordability disrupts the commercial ambitions of our property developers – who include our leaders and decision-makers. Bringing cheaper solutions would shake their pockets, so the poor must either continue living in squalor or cough up to enrich the masters.
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