Revisit the price of houses

As a fifth grader way back in the eighties, one of the most familiar question in Social Studies subject was and still is a question on basic human needs. Even the dull pupils in our class would also know that water, shelter, clothes and food were the fundamental human needs.

Back then, I did not really understand what that meant. I only became to appreciate the essence of these basic needs in my adulthood. My life as lodger helped me to value the need for shelter. Fellow lodgers can testify.

Zimbabwe has done very well to provide its citizens with most of the basic needs. Despite droughts that have been sporadically ravaging the country since independence, nobody in the country died of hunger. The provision of clean and safe water has been uppermost at the priority list of government.

However, the government has been beleaguered by the housing challenges in urban areas. This was mainly caused by rural to urban migration as people moved into towns in search of employment and better living conditions. As of now, Zimbabwe has a current housing deficit of over 1.25 million. That colossal backlog surely needs a serious government intervention.

The government must be applauded for coming up with a deliberate policy that seeks to avail houses to the citizens. The government promised in its ambitious economic blueprint, Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset) to provide 313 000 housing units by 2018. With the exuberance that is being displayed by the responsible Minister, that target is surely attainable.

The Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing under Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, launched a brilliant programme that will go a long way in reducing the backlog. The programme came at the right time, years after chaos has reigned in that sector.

Before the launch of this programme, government unwittingly entrusted the responsibility of providing houses to cooperatives that were run by crooks who, overnight took advantage to turn themselves into land barons.

While houses were being built in cities, the problem was that they were only concentrated into the hands of a few barons. The current Minister of National Housing must be commended for not only seeing the rot but also putting a stop to it. Many people had lost a fortune to these unscrupulous cooperatives.

The new low-cost housing scheme proposed by government, which will start with the construction of flats in Dzivarasekwa and Tafara, heralds the return of sanity in the housing delivery sector. People will pay their $5 000 deposits knowing very well that they will surely get a roof above their heads. As a government initiated project, there is no fear that one day they will wake up to see bulldozers flattening their structures. There is 100 percent security in government projects.

People can either pay for two bed-roomed flats or three bed-roomed flats which cost $42 000 and $49 431 respectively. This is a genuine and easy way of acquiring a house.

There are critics who had gone to the archives to dig and retrieve cases of other government housing projects that failed in the past. These people should know that the drivers of those projects have changed over years. The late Cde Enos Chikowore engineered his own project that had its own successes and weaknesses. So did Cde Ignatius Chombo.

It is, therefore, unfair to judge the current project basing on the previous projects. People must give it a chance and see how it will pan out. It would be better if people proffer suggestions that will fine-tune the project. It is a national project that seeks to tackle a national challenge. Unless one was a beneficiary of the chaos in the cooperative system, there is no reason one must denounce the project.

Probably the only thing that might blight the project is the accessibility to the targeted beneficiaries. The houses are meant for low-income earners who can hardly raise $5 000 deposit. Even the monthly instalments of between $299 and $357 is just too much for a worker who is netting an average of around $300.

The trend witnessed in the application of the houses is quite telling. The government was targeting about 2500 applicants for the initial project but had only received 2055 applications by 23 October, which was the due date for the applications.

This does not mean that people do not want these houses. The deposits and instalments are scaring them. In view of that, very few genuine and first time home seekers will buy these houses. Government must therefore, revisit the pricing system of its houses to make them affordable to all who need houses. Even most of the government workers cannot afford these houses. Those who have the means and who, in many cases, have many other houses will grab them.