Only 30% of Bulawayo residents own houses

THE majority of Bulawayo residents live in rented houses amid revelations that only 30 percent are homeowners as the city council is struggling to clear the housing backlog of about 120 000 units.

This is contained in the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) report which was presented at a key stakeholders meeting in the city yesterday.

The report is part of the 2022 Population and Housing Census Results and the statistics agency is now engaging stakeholders to unpack the Census results for each province.

ZimStats director for demography and social statistics, Mr Aluwisio Mukavhi, said at the time the census was conducted, Bulawayo had 665 952 people of which 307 871 were male and 358 081 were females. He said the life expectancy for men was 59 years while that of women was 65 years.

"The census established that there were 178 716 private households with a population of 663 382 persons in Bulawayo province, resulting in an average household size of 3,7 persons," said Mr Mukavhi.

He said the dominant tenure status observed across Bulawayo province was "lodger", which accounted for 37,6 percent of the total while "owner" status was at 30,2 percent.

According to the report, 18,4 percent of the city's residents live in relatives' houses, 8,3 percent are tenants while five percent live in tied accommodation (houses offered by employers).

The tenants according to the report, are those that live alone in landlords' houses while lodgers are those staying with the home-owners.

Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution permanent secretary, Mr Paul Nyoni, who represented Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Judith Ncube commended Zimstat for providing a timely census report saying the data will enable the city to plan better for the future.

He said while there are generally fewer housing units under private ownership, there is increased impetus to provide housing stands in Bulawayo.

"The target under the Nationa Development Strategy-1 is to build one million houses by 2025. I'm sure you have seen that over the past two to three years, there has been increased attempts by central Government and the city council provide more serviced stands for housing development," said Mr Nyoni.

He said there is need for Government, the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) and the private sector to work together clear the housing backlog. Mr Nyoni said Zimbabwe cannot be an upper middle income society when the majority of people do not own houses.

The BCC like other local authorities, has been facing challenges in its quest to provide adequate houses to its residents but is being complemented by private developers.

 Bulawayo United Residents Association (BURA) chairperson Mr Winos Dube however said there is a need to do more to address housing shortage in the city.

He said living in rented accommodation was a disadvantage because the properties cannot be used as collateral when tenants want to obtain loans from banks.

Mr Dube said the city is lagging behind in housing provision which has been confirmed by the fact that only 30 percent of residents own houses.

He said while the partnership of the council and the private sector in housing provision is commendable, there is a need to ensure the houses being built are affordable to the majority of residents.

 Property developer Mr Cris Mtungwazi of TCI International Private Limited, said having fewer residents owning houses is not just peculiar to Bulawayo but is a global phenomenon.

"Funding is the main challenge when it comes to housing provision globally and Bulawayo is not an exception. The situation is however worse here where financial institutions that are supposed to fund housing development are not doing so," he said.

Mr Mtungwazi said it is not just the council that is struggling to access funding but the private developers as well.

He said only a few individuals have savings to fund housing development.

Mr Mtungwazi said diasporans constitute the majority of citizens buying stands or building houses in most cities and towns.