The president of the Association for Local Authorities in Namibia (ALAN) says it is imperative that those tasked with housing delivery look into affordable models to address the backlog.

Samuel !Oë-Amseb was speaking at a two-day high-level meeting of the association focusing on a blueprint strategy for housing and serviced land acceleration at Tsumeb.

In attendance at the high-level gathering were councilors, management, chairpersons, and heads of different local authorities and village councils, who discussed how they would contribute to reducing the housing backlog, which currently stands at between 300 and 500 thousand units.

ALAN'S President, !Oë-Amseb says the association targets establishing 310, 000 houses for low and ultra-low-income earners by 2033.

"We must segment our residents to make our planning easy. We must know that this is category one; these residents are the group of people who don't have income so we can plan for them and deliver housing to these people who don't have any income. The benefit group can be those that have an income but cannot afford a luxury house; what are we planning for that group, and the next group can be the middle-income group, and we still can have the luxury for those that have the means to pay?"

The meeting will also look into consolidating drafts discussed and adopted at the last ALAN meeting, where they looked into eradicating informal settlements in the country.

Tsumeb Mayor Mathew Hangula stressed the need for ALAN to revive the energy among local authorities to accelerate the quality and acceptable standards in housing and serviced land.

"As a country, we continue to experience an acute shortage of affordable housing that has reached socio-economic crisis proportions and hence warrants an extraordinary public policy. As local and regional authorities, we are mandated to promote urban and rural development to enhance the socio-economic development of our country."

At its conclusion, ALAN will adopt amendments to the Local Authority Act.