Lands Ministry receives sh2b to execute housing policy

For financial year 2017/18, government has allocated sh2b to the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development for the implementation of the National Housing Policy.

The policy which was adopted last year aims at addressing issues related to inadequate housing, quality of housing as well as affordability for all especially for the urban poor.

Speaking during the Urban Thinkers' dialogue on 'The City We Need', the commissioner for human resettlement in the ministry Samuel Shibuta Mabala said the ministry has been preparing programmes on how best to implement the policy and ensure there is adequate housing for all, have finished project documents, costing and are now going into implementation stage.

Mabala revealed that they have been in several discussions with the Ministry of Finance and the money provided is to kick-start the implementation of the National Housing Policy.

"One of the things the ministry wants to promote is the use of housing corporations. Here, we encourage Ugandans to come into groups, mobilize resources like construction materials, also save money, buy land, then work together with private partners to build houses for the group," he said.

"Under this arrangement, it is better to build highways due to limited land and blocks of apartments which make housing cheaper and also improves utilization of infrastructure," he added.

On the issue of people who sleep on streets, Mabala said instead of letting people be homeless, and sleep nowhere, alternative facilities like dormitories where they can always come and spend a night in a more conducive environment are ideal.

The meeting was attended by participants from the academia world, civil society as well as representatives from government agencies. It took place at Hotel Africana on Thursday and was organized by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in collaboration with Uganda Community Based Association for Women and Children Welfare (UCOBAC).

It was under the theme ‘Equitable and Gender Sensitive Access to Land and Housing for Urban Poor'.

Explaining how housing corporations work, the executive director, Uganda Human Settlements Network, Dorothy Baziwe said about 16 housing corporations exist in Uganda.

She explained that a group of 30 people come together with an initial goal to acquire housing, and as members, they save money, purchase land and build houses together in one place.

"To be able to access better and adequate housing, this method is highly recommended. But it works best when members planning to do such projects are involved in income generating activities to be able to save for the cause," she said.

Challenges of urbanization   

While discussing issues related to land and housing especially in the urban cities, different discussants pointed out different issues concerning urbanization including population boom thus pressure on the land and cities, general increase in insecurity, inadequate information regarding housing, poor housing conditions among others.

The other major challenge mentioned was the way evictions are carried out, which mostly affects women and youth.

Some discussants complained that some people have been evicted in inhumane ways, are evicted in the wee hours of the night, are violently handled and in the process, some people get hurt.

They challenged those who carry out evictions to use a human rights face approach because these are human beings that deserve to be treated with respect.

UCOBAC director programs, Frances Buringi, said solving such challenges requires concerted efforts by different stakeholders so that the urban poor can enjoy the benefits of urbanization but also contribute towards development of the cities.