Prime
Gov’t moves to popularise condominiums amidst housing deficit
Board Chairman Habitat For Humanity Uganda (HFHU), Robert Waggwa (R) and Director for Housing at the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Developement Mr Dave Khayangayanga (L) address the media during the launch of the National Housing Symposium 2023 at their head offices in Kampala on August 8, 2023. PHOTO | ISAAC KASAMANI
What you need to know:
- According to Habitat for Humanity, currently, seven million Ugandans are estimated to be living in indecent houses without access to proper water and sanitation.
The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development is considering new strategies for developers to come up with simplified versions of condominiums, to make them affordable to the public.
The Condominium Property Act allows one to have a land title for a specific housing unit or condo within a building. However, according to the lands ministry the prices set by developers are exaggerated.
While addressing journalists on Tuesday about an upcoming housing symposium scheduled for October, Mr Dave Khayangayanga, the director of Housing at the ministry said that currently condominiums are too expensive, that even the majority of the middle class cannot afford them which challenges advocacy for vertical development.
“The issue of affordability, you must have seen in newspapers and sign posts, the developers saying that they have constructed affordable houses and when you looked at prices, they are over exaggerated,” Mr Khayangayanga said
He added; “Which section of the population are they targeting and which strategies should they put in place to lower these houses so that they can be affordable and Ugandans to be able to sleep comfortably.”
The housing deficit stands at 2.4 million housing units, of which 210,000 units are in urban areas and 1.395 million in rural areas. About 900,000 housing units in the country are below standards.
Mr Khayangayanga also revealed that the government has plans to evacuate slum dwellers who have encroached on national housing land in a bid to improve the living conditions of Ugandans.
“We don’t want to be quoted that we are starting next month. We cannot wake up and say let us bring bulldozers, people have built houses and invested,” he said.
Mr Robert Otim, the National Director of Habitat for Humanity, said the challenge is partly due to financing for housing which has been problematic not just for those seeking condominiums.
“Generally 60 per cent of the population cannot afford the collateral required by banks to secure loans for building homes and about 12 million people have no place to call home while 24 million are living in substandard homes,” Mr Otim said.
“Sections of the public maintain that so far, affordable housing promotions and campaigns have not really yielded as housing remains expensive and unaffordable to many,” he added.
According to Habitat for Humanity, currently, seven million Ugandans are estimated to be living in indecent houses without access to proper water and sanitation.
However, Mr Otim revealed that they have constructed 47 houses with two bedrooms and sitting rooms using modern technology in Mayuge and Kumi districts.
“The main challenge for Kampala, unlike rural areas, is housing quantity," Mr Otim said, noting that the public remains largely unaware of how the concept works and yet the few that understand it cannot afford.
Utility
The Condominium Property Act 2001 describes a condominium as a system of separate ownership of individual units in a multiple unit building, the individual units of which are designated for separate ownership and the remainder of which is designated for common ownership solely by the owners of those units.
