The Build Together Housing Programme at Karasburg has been dormant for the past three years due to financial constraints.

The community of Karasburg told the Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Erastus Uutoni, during an engagement of their concern about the dormant social housing programme.

The government-funded Build Together Housing Programme, established 31 years ago, provides housing for low- and middle-income families.

Maria Veldskoen, the Mayor of Karasburg, revealed that the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development has allocated N$500,000 in the current financial year to the town's Build Together Housing Programme.

However, the allocated funds have yet to be paid into the council's housing development credit banking account.

The said account's bank balance, says the mayor, currently stands at N$130,000.

Minister Uutoni advised that the housing programme needs to come back.

"The point is that there are weaknesses when it comes to administering the Build Together Housing Programme; we should accept our weaknesses; therefore, the council is going to sit together with the administrators to see how we can perfect this programme to help our communities. Some people are now ageing without a house, and if you're paying well, we can always propose that there is an area that needs to be serviced, but it's for Build Together Housing; then we can allocate the money that we need to service this area because people in Karasburg are paying well."