After years of delay due to limited funds, 40 houses will be constructed at Aminuis in the Omaheke Region under the Build Together Project.

The construction of the houses, under the auspices of the Omaheke Regional Council, is expected to be completed before the end of this year. 

This was made known by Aminuis Constituency Councillor Peter Kazongominja in an interview with nbc News, who says the project is long overdue and owning a house is not a luxury but a necessity.

In Divundu, in the Kavango East Region, 23 low-income earners formally got their homes, which were built by the Shack Dwellers Federation (SDF).

The houses were constructed at a cost of over N$955,000 on land provided for by the Divundu Village Council in 2018 through the Namibia Housing Action Group.

A member of the Shack Dwellers Federation, Fulgentia Mukendenge, says the initiative has impacted many lives.

The Kamanjab Village Council (KVC) has committed to building four houses each financial year for residents who are living with disabilities.

The project, which is co-funded by the Kunene Regional Council, has already started with the construction of the first four houses.

Kamanjab Village Council Chief Executive Officer Bianca Nguaiko said the council has received one million dollars from the informal housing trust fund to construct 29 houses, of which four are for people living with disabilities.

Two families in Kongola have lost everything in a fire that started while they were at church.

Nora Samba, a 38-year-old woman from Tulikonge Village in the Mwanzi area, is the most affected after all three houses in her courtyard burned to ashes.

Samba was told upon arriving from church that the fire had allegedly started from the neighbour's house and caught and spread to her thatched roof.

The unemployed mother of seven and one grandchild said that she has no way of recovering her belongings, including her children's school uniforms and books.

Standard Bank Namibia, through its corporate social responsibility programme, has reaffirmed its commitment to gradually move low-income earners from shacks to modern houses.

The bank pledged N$2,6 million towards the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia project for this year.

Standard Bank Namibia Senior Copywriter Khadijah Mouton says the bank has a significant role to play in ensuring the phasing out of shacks in the informal settlements.

The Build Together Housing Project, aimed at addressing homelessness in Namibia, has been revived at Fransfontein Settlement in Kunene Region. 

Recently, the settlement office there has been busy with the construction of low-cost brick houses for its residents, some of whom lived in mud or zinc structures.

According to Fransfontein Village Council Control Administration Officer, Kalush Aipinge, the revived housing project is part of the initial project implemented in 1995 under the same program.

Delivering affordable housing remains a key government agenda item.

As such, the Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Erastus Uutoni, says his ministry avails millions of dollars towards the construction of houses to improve the living standards of Namibians.

Uutoni said this when he handed over more than 40 new houses, constructed at a cost of N$11 million at Otjiwarongo. 

These houses were constructed by the National Housing Enterprises after the Otjiwarongo Municipality made available land in 2021 to set up affordable units.