ABSTRACT

Research has consistently shown the importance of the housing sector on the economy, the long-term social and financial benefits and failure of the housing market to provide an adequate supply of well-located affordable housing. Despite various initiatives by the Government and non-governmental organizations, the housing sector is faced with a number of strategic challenges, which provide the basis for policy and strategy decisions by exposing the existing gaps in the housing industry in Namibia and the inability by low to middle-income groups to afford housing. This study aims to analyze the factors influencing housing affordability for the low to middle-income households in Windhoek, in relation to the Windhoek housing property market and review how various policies introduced by the Government have influenced the Namibian housing market. The study adopted a mixed research strategy. This involved a close review of literature so as to enable the researcher to be familiar with the content and to gain an understanding of the themes and details in the text. The research instrument was pilot tested on five tenants residing in Hochland Parkin Windhoek and guided interviews were conducted with the different selected income groups. Results revealed that housing affordability in Windhoek is influenced by a number of social, economic and Government or political factors such as immigration, education levels, income, taxation, interest rates, preference, construction cost and availability of serviced land. Results also revealed that the high cost of living negatively affects housing affordability which makes it challenging for the low and middle households to buy houses. In terms of housing policies and programmes, results underscore the fact that, there exists a number of these housing policies despite the fact that overall people, are not aware of most of iii these policies with the exception of the National housing enterprise (NHE) and National housing policy and that these policies in any case have not had any effect on the housing affordability as house prices still remain high in Namibia, which in a way poses a challenge particularly for the low to middle income households. Other mentioned challenges to affordable housing in Windhoek include the limited funding and increasing costs of building materials, bureaucracy, poor contractors, poor quality work and corruption are to blame for the negative influence on the housing market and housing affordability in Windhoek. The study recommends the need to reduce prices on housing, increase access to land and offer it at low costs, increase people’s salaries particularly the low to middle income households, enforce Government policies on housing, award the “right people” contracts to build houses of quality, and ensure strict adherence to Government set rules and regulations in executing various policies.