Let’s move away from rigid housing ownership model

I STAND by and am fully behind, the Housing and Social Amenities minister Daniel Garwe’s recent call for densification of current residential housing stand as part of the solution to urban housing shortages.

Let us not throw away the baby with the bath water, Garwe is actually spot on.

By the way he is the same minister who, some weeks ago, refreshingly, begged the local banking institutions to practically revisit their payslip-based mortgage lending requirement in an environment of vast unemployment.

We have a huge borrower population that can definitely afford servicing their housing loans without payslip-type jobs.

Yes, minister, if we have 80% unemployment these building societies must know that they have effectively lost 80% of their typical business

If this thrust is run by the party in government, we can expect the usual implementation disasters, bullyboy tactics and partisan tricks.

If this thrust is run by urban council, we can expect lethargy and bureaucracy — most of our urban councils operate on just two speeds — slow and none.

As minimum requests, beyond the minister’s call, I beg that the individual owners be given the right to say no — with all their safety, freedoms, rights and also that the impact or strain on existing municipal infrastructure that is roads, sewer, waste, water, among others being assessed fully to avoid unintended consequences.

The country must move away from its very rigid ownership model and actively encourage and support institutional investment in shelter, that is mass rented housing options.

House ownership is only one of the possible options — those who cannot afford ownership should still have quality rented accommodation as an option like elsewhere in the world.