opposed to the “current expansive housing” development approach that is “expensive and wasteful on land and infrastructure”.
Under the new model, the city would revisit built up areas such as Chizhanje in Mabvuku, Cherima in Highfield and Joburg lines in Mbare to build high rise structures that accommodate more families on the existing land.
This means the city would use the existing infrastructure such as water, sewer, roads, shopping centres, schools and clinics among other services to more people.
A senior city housing official said this was a cheaper and more convenient method of delivering houses to the multitudes of people who have failed to access accommodation in the past 10 years due to economic sanctions.
Prior to the imposition of the sanctions, multi-lateral institutions and banks such as the World Bank used to provide funds through government for the provision of infrastructure.
“We do not get that money anymore. We have the land, but we cannot service it. This means we are unable to provide housing to the needy,” said the official.
Government has given Harare City several peri-urban farms for housing development but the city is unable to open the new areas because it cannot offer offsite infrastructure. These are farms such as Caledonia, Hopley, Saturday Retreat, Whitecliff and Glaudina among others.
“The way we have been using land is not economic. We have just been expanding. Expansion calls for more investment in roads, water and sewer. We are going to revisit old built up areas where we will utilise the existing infrastructure,” he said.
The city’s active housing waiting list has 25 000 people but estimates put the number of people in need of houses in Harare to 100 000. The active list consists of people who have been yearly renewing their waiting cards for the past 10 years.
However, some have opted out after realising that the process cannot afford them housing and that they are simply financing the city without benefits.
According to minutes of the education, health, housing and community services and licensing committee adopted by the full council recently, city studies had shown that residents “actually prefer town houses for security reasons.” Harare adheres to stringent model by-laws, which make housing delivery difficult despite a Government policy to de-regulate the stringent building by-laws, which among other things specify the type of materials and standards.
“Council seriously considers the implementation of the Namibia experience to alleviate the housing shortage in Harare. The pilot project is undertaken on the land allocated to council by Government,” reads part of the minutes.