ABSTRACT

The long-term and fundamental imbalance between supply and demand in the housing market
has resulted in a dramatic increase in house prices in recent years, driving many low income
households into the hard-pressed public housing sector or, alternatively, the informal sector
(Fahmiand Sutton, 2008). Thus, more strategies are required to develop a well-functioning
and effective system of housing finance provision in Zambia to improve access to housing for
low and moderate-income households. In this regard, many studies indicated that, in order to
build an effective and inclusive network of financial intermediation that reaches the under-
served households, other sectors would need to be integrated into the network (Torre and
Schmukler, 2005, Imboden, 2005, CGAP, 2006, UNCDF, 2006, Bond, 2004, UNCHS-
Habitat, 1984a). Thus, this should improve the lives of these under-served households, in
particular in the developing and transitional economies (UNCDF, 2006).
This study examines the national housing policy and its implications on the low income
earners of Zambia. To complement document analysis, questionnaires will be distributed to
the low-income earners and the management of the housing Authorities and the ministry of
Local government and Housing. Results of this study would help in shaping the direction of
the ongoing debate on housing in Zambia. Recommendation is that policymakers need to
combine information gathered through household survey to provide an up to date, accurate
and detailed profile of the housing market.

BACKGROUND

Economic growth and urbanization have become inextricably linked. With more than 51
percent of the world population now living in cities, the debate in recent years has been on
whether to deplore urban living for mushrooming of slums where housing conditions are
appalling, sanitation is almost non-existent, epidemic diseases can thrive, exploitation and
physical dangers are widespread or to welcome for opportunities city life offers – jobs, health
care, schools and opportunities for women (UNFPA, 2011). Adequate housing is necessary
for social welfare as it provides protection from weather, place to bring up families and a
place to work. While policy debates have more or less accepted that urbanization is an
irreversible phenomenon with more positive than negative externalities, the biggest challenge
associated with urbanization is that it has not kept pace with the housing needs of those living

1
in cities and those migrating to the cities. More than thirty percent of world’s urban
population are either living in poor housing conditions in slums or are homeless
(UNHABITAT, 2 2010). The situation is precarious when we look at the regional
distribution. The percentage share of urban people who live in poor housing conditions in
Sub-Saharan Africa is about 61 percent in 2010 followed by South Asia (35 percent) and
South Eastern Asia (31 percent). In Eastern Asia 28 percent of urban population lives in
slums while in Latin America and Caribbean the percentage is about 24 percent
(UNHABITAT, 2010). The most disadvantaged are the low income families, who due to lack
of housing have been driven into informal shelter in the burgeoning slums in many cities of
all sizes. In many of Africa’s cities and towns, for example, less than ten percent of the
population lives in formal sector housing (Struyk and Gidding, 2009).

BRIEF HISTORY OF HOUSING IN ZAMBIA

Colonial Housing Policy in Zambia

Housing provision in the colonial era was guided by the African Ordinance of 1948 which
provided the institutional framework for the housing sector. According to this policy each
municipality was to reserve land specifically for the construction of housing for Africans. The
citizens were settled according to their race and Africans had no rights to choose to live in
areas designated for Europeans, Indians or Mixed race and vice versa. Under the African
Ordinance, housing was tied to employment. Hence employers were required to provide
either land or housing for their workers. Local authorities were obliged to provide for the
African workers living within their municipalities. This policy provided the means to control
the influx of rural populations in search of employment opportunities in urban areas. The
policy did not provide for opportunity, and job seeking migrant workers were immediately
repatriated on retirement. Thus squatters were removed and demand for housing was reduced
to cater only for those in gainfulemployment. Housing was provided by municipalities up to
1913. For example, Lusaka Municipality provided 49 percent while employers supplemented
that with 32 percent, with 19 percent temporary and scheduled for demolition (MoLGH,
2002:7)

2
One of the serious limitations of this housing policy was that it discriminated against
theindigenous people. Houses for the Africans were substandard and set in high density areas
and often with minimum of amenities and facilities like communal washrooms and toilets.
Equally fundamental is the fact that this policy did not encourage home ownership and thus
denied the indigenous people to live where they wanted.

Post Colonial Housing Policy

Independence brought about substantial social, economic and political changes. More
important was the change in the colonial settlement and housing policies; the
restrictiveadministrative and legal barrier that had denied the Africans the freedom of
movementwere removed. The freedom to move from Native Reserves to the towns brought
joy tomany Zambians, but resulted in sudden migration of people from rural to urban areas
mainly to enjoy what was previously denied.
According to MoLGH (2002) in terms of urban planning and development, the authorities
were not ready and it was not their priority to cater for the sudden influx of people. The
public capacity for employment, housing and services could not meet the increase in squatter
settlements. In March 1964, a conference was convened by the minister of Housing and
Social Development to work out a housing policy. However the plan was not completed. In
1965, the appointed committee presented the policy, though it was biased towards the high
density urban areas. Under this policy, the government was to subsidize low cost housing
through grants amounting to 50 percent. The policy laid down both the cost limits and
minimum standards of accommodation for houses in housing development areas on land
provided by local authorities.

A central institution for dealing with the challenges of housing was needed. The National
Housing Authority Act was passed in 1971. This act was the culmination of all previous
conferences, discussions and efforts put into the implementation of a feasible program. It was
realized that all the efforts attempted were far too fragmented and did not aim at providing a
long term solution to the apparent and growing housing problems at the time. The Act
provided for better development and control of housing throughout the country and allowed
for establishment of a body known as the National Housing Authority (NHA). Its function
was mainly the provision of shelter as a basic human need and better living standards for the
people at national level. Under this Act, the NHA was to keep housing conditions under

3
continuous review through periodic surveys. It was also supposed to advise government and
local authorities on the need for further housing development.

The NHA was also mandated to take over, manage and control on efficient and economic
basis houses belonging to government, to promote home ownership by the introduction of
house purchase schemes. Partially completed houses were constructed and sold to home
owners who needed accommodation, but could not afford the full costs of the houses. Home
owners were expected to complete and enlarge their houses as their financial ability
permitted. The NHA shifted from its previous role to building, renting and selling completed
houses with funds borrowed from financial institutions on a profit making basis because the
government took a low profile. This shift concentrated on the commercial aspect of the NHA
Act at the obvious expense of social housing for the poor and elderly (MoLGH, 2002).

The main national government ministry working in the area of housing and settlements
development and infrastructure provision is the Ministry of Local Government and
Housing. Within the Ministry, there are the Department of Physical Planning and Housing
and the Department of Infrastructure and Social Services. In terms of housing, the role of the
Ministry is mainly that of policy setting and supervision, with planning and regulation of
actual development at city level being the responsibility of local authorities. In terms of water
and sanitation, local authorities, under the supervision of the Ministry of Local Government
and Housing, are responsible for actual water supply and sanitation. There is further
delegation of responsibility at local authority level, with private water utility companies
undertaking the business of water supply and sanitation.

4
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

More than a decade has passed since the UN scroll of honour award winning 1996 National
Housing Policy was formulated in Zambia and it still remains largely un-implemented, its
effect is also still doubtful. Unaffordable housing and homelessness add to the problems
of living on low income households, affecting physical and mental health.

The limited choices that have been suggested in these policies have not managed to match the
ever increasing demand for housing. Thus despite the efforts at building more houses the
low-income earners still face housing problems. This is evidenced by the emergence of
squatter settlements and backyard shelter in and around Lusaka, which exist despite the strict
controls enforced by the government against such dwelling. In this study attention is on
examining the urban housing policy and its impact on the low-income earners. This group
include those who earn ZMW 700 and below per month. This is the minimum wage linked to
the Poverty Datum Line gazetted through Statutory Instrument 45 of 2012 (The Government
Gazette, 2012). Low-income earners seeking affordable accommodation are usually kept on
the housing waiting list for many years and most of them resort to lodging or staying on
undesignated land.
The housing policy as a tool of development was meant to provide affordable housing. Was
this really the case? Has the immediate housing policy been effective in terms of its
objective? These are questions that requires answers, hence this study which has the
objective of examining housing policy and its implications for low income earners.

The rate of population growth, combined with a declining economy, has put tremendous
pressure on urban housing. In a recent report, for example, it was estimated that "about 70
percent of Lusaka's [the Capital City] population live in poor, unplanned settlements
comprising 20 percent of the city's residential land" (World Bank, 2012a, online).

RESEARCH AIM
The aim of the study is to explore the impact of Zambia’s National housing policy in assisting
the poor to acquire descent shelter.

5
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

General objectives
 To evaluate the impact of the National Housing Policy in Zambia on assisting the
poor to acquire decent shelter.

 to establish the eligibility criteria used to purchase the low cost houses and
affordability of houses by low income group
 To make recommendations on how to develop a more appropriate housing policy
in Zambia

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
In order to achieve the research objectives, sets of broad and more specific research questions
have been raised to guide the study. While the introductory section will be concerned with the
broad research questions, more specific questions will be presented in the methods and
procedure chapter after laying-out the arguments that justify such research questions. Suffice
it to state here that given the goal of the study, it is crucial to find an answer to the question as
to

1. Has the immediate housing policy been effective in terms of its objective?
2. What criteria is used to purchase Low income houses?
3. What recommendations can be made tobest assist the provision of decent shelter to
the poor can be improved?

6
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

That there has been a problem of homelessness in Zambian cities warrants an inquiry into its
magnitude. The extent to which the housing policy impacts upon the homeless, especially the
low-income earners in the urban areas becomes one that calls for research. It is against this
background that the study attempts to analyze the housing policy in Zambia. This is done
through examination of the housing policy. The study attempts to tease out the implications
of the housing policy on low-income earners and the likely effects on the standard of housing
meant for low-income earners by examining the low income earners’ access to housing.

The fifth National Development Plan (2006-2010) recognizes the fact that due to high
levels of poverty the majority of the Zambians cannot afford decent housing, but however
puts as one of its strategies to provide adequate low cost housing development for the poorest
of the poor in the urban areas FNDP(20.5 item 6). The study aims to shed light on
understanding of Zambia’s housing policies with certainty, depending on the way they are
formulated. It is directed at avoiding possible future policy failures, and enhancing the
impacts of the policy on the existing housing situation, based on the development of the 1996
National Housing Policy. This will contribute to filling up the knowledge gap required to
ensure that policies formulated after this will have a higher implementation rate, and will
produce more positive impacts. Suggestions will therefore be made on how to improve on
past shortcomings.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The research will attempt to analyze the institutional framework put in place to enhance the
provision of decent shelter to the poor in Zambia. These institutions included the Ministry of
Local Government and Housing. It also involves National Housing Authority (NHA) the
provider of NyumbaYanga low cost houses, the residents of NyumbaYanga. The
involvement of all these was by way of questionnaires and interviews.

7
DEFINITION OF VARIABLES

Low Cost Housing refers to houses that occupy a built up area of not more than fifty (50)
Square meters. This housing type has no built in wardrobes, sand/cement screed floor,
concrete sink, mono- pitched roof (roof flow in one direction), no plastering and rending, no
plastering outside, no veranda and toilet and shower are combined (Construction Magazine,
2005).
Notes on Low Cost Housing:
Low cost housing would also mean housing for low income earners or low income houses
(i.e, in the urban context). Low-Income eamers consist of the labour force in formal
employment who earn a specific wage or are able to make a specific amount of money at the
end of a calendar month (or who carries out most of the actions for self-supply of their own
houses in the urban context).
Not all low income households are below the poverty level, or would they express the same
needs or express the same demand for housing ( UN-HARB p.13).

Housing Finance: In this study, Housing Finance means “the provision of finance or capital
for housing development” ( HFM-FOR DEV, p.4).
Notes on Housing Finance:

Availability of Housing Finance could be defined as the credit supplied by Housing Financial
institutions or any other institutions promoting low income housing for the low income
group. The definition includes Housing Finance Institutions that play intermediary role of
bringing borrowers and savers together.

Decent shelter- Housing unit provided with good sanitation, water, solid waste collection,
proper health building materials and environmentally sound atmosphere.

Institutional framework– various institutions and their roles in the implementation process
of the National Housing Policy.

Legal framework- laws passed by Zambian Parliament that relates to, and affect the housing,
land acquisition, property right and provision of social amenities.

Government financing- the provision of financial, human and capital resources to

individuals, institutions and communities.

8
Poverty- lack of access to decent shelter, appropriate income, social amenities as well as
vulnerablility to market forces.

Land- access to building space through various legally recognized tenure systems.

Access- easier reach to sources of building materials and decent housing units.

Building materials- necessary raw materials in building strong, lasting and environmentally
sound housing units.

Policy- purposeful course of action taken by those in power to pursue certain course of
objectives.

Policy inputs- resources such as human and financials channeled towards the implementation
of the national housing policy on assisting the poor to acquire decent shelter.

Formal employment- having a regular salaried and stable job.

Informal employment- having an unstable job with irregular income.

9
CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

INTRODUCTION

LITERATURE REVIEW ON LOW COST HOUSING

Low cost housing in Zambia started way back before independence in 1964. To
understand the meaning of "low cost housing" in the Zambian context, it is important to
consider the history of urban housing. From as far back as early 1950s to 1970s, when the
government and public agencies were involved in the provision of housing, low cost housing
according to Fallavier, Mulenga and Jere (June 2005), was referred to as "high density
housing areas built by municipal councils or the National Housing Authority (NHA) to house
the low-income workers in formal sector." The legacy of the planning system in
Zambia according to Mwimba (2002) encourages segmentation of a city into three
categories;

a. High cost residential area which are predominantly for the upper class citizens,

b. Medium cost residential areas, mainly for the middle class citizens and

c. Low cost residential areas which are for the low class or low income families.

The classification of residential areas is based on location and plot sizes.

The first National Development Plan (FNDP) 1966-1971, established two housing
programmes, one dealing with the civil service and the other with the low cost housing
for the general public. The low cost housing was referred to as high density low cost housing
and the allocation of funding by the government was concentrated on this category of
housing during this period.

10
The First National Development Plan Period

Zambia gained independence in 1964. Independence brought with it the freedom of

movement of the people. This was enshrined in the constitution of Zambia. Article 24 (1) of
the constitution guaranteed freedom of movement and residence. It stated “no person shall be
deprived of his freedom of movement.” The fieedom of movement worsened the already
existing critical shortage of low income housing crisis in all urban areas. The urban
population increased from 20.5% to 29% from 1963-1969. The increase in the population was
not supported with a corresponding number of housing developments. For Lusaka, the
unauthorised settlements increased in number as the white farmers left their farms. In the
absence of the property owners, there was no paying of rent and settling in these areas
became easier. The inability to satisfy the demand of housing was clear as demonstrated by
the mushrooming of unauthorised settlements. The housing development strategy for the
period 1965- 1970 was contained in the two development plans. These were the Transitional
Development Plan (1965-1966) and the First National Development Plan (1966-1970). The
vision of the Transitional Development Plan was to provide adequate housing for all the
people of Zambia. The main objectives were the promotion of owner occupier housing as a
fundamental right and the allocation of 17.65% of the national budget to the constniction of
5000 housing units. Government in this period committed £8.1 million from the total budget
of £ 45.9m. An evaluation of the plan revealed that £3.5m was spent on new housing in urban
areas and of the 5000 houses, only a quarter were built in Lusaka. The rest were built on the
Copperbelt. The colonial policy of tying housing to employment continued. In the same plan,
one million pounds (£1 million) was set aside for Civil Servants to either build or buy houses.
The main objective of the First National Development Plan was to provide funding to Local
Authorities so as to enable them build houses for rentalpurposes for the low- income group
earners. This led to the construction of high conventional houses using prefabricated concrete
components. As a strategy to reduce service charges for plots, group services and lower
building standards were introduced in a number of compounds. Due to the rapid growth of the
urban population, these efforts did not have much impact. Consequently, the government
established the National Housing Authority to handle effectively the housing crisis. The
authority was established in 1971 by an Act of Parliament Cap 426 of the Laws of Zambia.
The mandate of the NHA was to make better provision for the development and control of
housing throughout the Republic. Some of its specific functions included; “to advise
government on the formulation and implementation of national policies on housing, to
11
undertake, support and encourage research into all aspects of housing, with particular
emphasis on low cost housing development, to provide consultancy services in all fields
associated with housing development. These included Town Planning, Land Surveying,
Architecture, Engineering and Quantity surveying services and lastly to develop, manage and
control housing estates” (NHA, 2006). An example of the outcome of NHA effort was the
construction and management of 1,429 flats and houses of Kabwata Estates, which have since
been sold to sitting tenants. In order to facilitate accessibility to finances for purchase and
construction of houses, the government established the Zambia National Building Society in
1970 whose role was to provide housing finance to would be beneficiaries.

The Second National Development Plan Period

The Second National Development Plan (SNDP) emphasised the need to meet the housing
needs of low income earners in the urban areas through the provision of fully serviced sites
which led to site and service schemes programmes carried out mainly by the local
authorities and NHA. Due to the increase in population after independence, several
projects to build low cost houses started and in Lusaka, these included houses in areas such
as Chelston, Kabwata, and Chilenje e.tc. During the period 1972-1976, the government
implemented the Second National Development Plan. During this period the government
realised that unauthorised settlements could not be demolished or left without providing them
with essential services. The government observed that, “although squatter areas are
unplanned, they nevertheless, represent assets both in social and financial terms. The areas
required planning services and wholesale demolition of good and bad houses alike was not a
practical solution” (GRZ 1972, p.l485). This realisation ushered in the era of squatter
upgrading. The vision of the plan was to empower citizens with home ownership with the
primary objective of meeting the housing needs of low income eamers in urban areas. It was
during this period that the Housing Statutory and Improvement Act of 1974 was enacted.
Despite the low allocation by government to the sector, K43 million was spent on housing in
the urban areas in 1974. Most of the money being spent was by the private sector and
individuals.

12
During the period of the second and third National Development plans (1971-1983), the
government of Zambia pursued a policy of developing residential and commercial property
through the Parastatal firms. Most housing provision was institutional, comprising Local
Authority and private companies (including the mines). Local Authority housing was
predominantly low cost housing and largely provided for African workers. Among the
parastatal companies that were used to increase housing stock included the National Housing
Authority (NHA), the Zambia State Insurance Corporation (ZSIC), the Zambia National
Provident Fund (ZNPF) and the Zambia National Building Society (ZNBS). Apart from the
National Housing Authority, these companies were supposed to build institutional houses
meant for their employees. These houses constructed by the companies for their employees
were categorized according to the rank or position of the employees. Low cost houses were
built for the low income earners or junior officers and were characterized by the location, the
size of the houses and plots which were small. Senior and middle management staff were
housed in medium and high cost houses meant for their class.

The Third and Fourth National Development Plans

The Third and Fourth National Development Plans contained nothing new compared to the
earlier development plans. It merely emphasized the government policy for the citizen to
attain minimum shelter standards. The promotion of low income housing was to be pursued
further and a new emphasis placed on home ownership to be financed by personal savings.
This was a marked departure from government provision to private provision.

13
Post-Independence National Development Plans, approaches and objectives related to
housing

National Perio MainApproach Mainobjective(s)

Developme
Transitional d
1965 Modernisation and Physicalplanningand production of shelterby
ntPlan
NDP to196 urbangrowth publicagenciesthroughcentralplanning
FirstNDP( 1966 Redistributionwith Promotingself-helpeffortsonaprojectbyproject
FNDPor 6to197 growth basisusingstatesupport
Sec 1972 Basicneeds Recognitionoftheinformalsector, promotion
FiNDP)
ond 2to197 of
Thirdand
ND 19
6 Shiftfromsocialistto Attainingminimum shelterstandardsTheFourth
squatterupgrading,siteandserviceschemesand
Fourth
P 79 capitalistapproaches Planwasabandonedin 1991
statesubsidiestolandandhousing
NDPs(T
PovertyRe
(SN to1
2002- Transitionperiodfrom Rapid expansion of mining andconstructionsector;
NDPand
duction 98
2005 onestatecommand privatization recapitalization of mines&buoyant
DP)
FoNDP) 3
StrategyPa economytoliberalisedf world commodity markets. Rapid growthin

pers and reemarketeconomy construction

FifthNatio (2006 Broadbasedwealth-and Toensure that1.5millionpeople areadequately
(PRSP)and 19 sectorasaresultofprivateconstruction
nal - job-creationthrough housedby2011andtoprovideadequateaffordable
Transitiona 89 activities,especially inresidentialhousinginthe
Developme 2010) citizen-participation housingforallincomegroupsin Zambia.
lNational to mainurbancentres
SixthNatio
ntPlan (2011 Sustained
andtechnologicaleconomic GRZplansto“createanenablingenvironmentto
Developm 1993
nal - growth
advancementandpoverty provideaffordable,
entPlan
Developme 2015) reduction qualityandadequatehousingto
(TNDP)
ntPlan themajorityofZambians”throughfosteringPubli
c-
Vision2030 (2006 Creatingaprosperous TheVision
PrivatePartnerships(PPPs)forhousingdevelopme
-– Middle-Incomecountry aimsatachieving75percentofpeopleinplannedres
nt
2030) bytheyear2030. ettlementwithadequate,affordableand
andconstructionofancillaryfacilities.Onestrateg
goodqualityhousingneighbourhoodsby2030…
y
”
ofthePlanisto“construct150,000Housingunits
andincreasingthenumberofpeoplewithaccessto
everyyear(100,000lowcost,40,000mediumcost
Source:Mwango, Vision20 andstakeholder interviews
plannedurbanandruralsettlementto50percentof
and10,000 highcosthouses)in ten districts”.54
thepopulationby2015 and75 percentby2030.
It
furtheraimsto“develop;anappropriate,affordabl
e andaccessiblemortgagesystemby2015andput
inplaceefficient;andtransparentprocedures for14

securingtitledeedsby2015”.55
After the formulation of the 1996 National Housing Policy, the responsibility was given to
the Local Authorities and National Housing Authority to continue with the responsibility of
constructing, selling and renting the low cost houses. This part of the research, presents
some existing literature in the National Housing policy that has been reviewed. The Housing
Policy in Zambia has been a subject of much interest to many scholars, private organizations
and the government at large. This great interest led to many efforts at evaluating Zambia’s
National Housing Policy framework as well as implementation. As noted by many scholars,
several attempts were made since independence to draw up a National Housing Policy, and
all these efforts were as a result of various series of evaluations and assessments. However, it
must be noted that though much was done in terms of efforts at assessing the impact of the
Policy and evaluating it, not much was written down, published, and reported on these
research findings (Kasongo and Tripple, (1995). An Analysis of Policy Towards Squatters in
Kitwe, Zambia.Third World Planning Review.Vol.12, No.2, pp.147-167).

Among the literature reviewed was an ex-post and ex-ante evaluation study conducted by
Makasa, P.L.K (2010), the 1996 Zambia National Housing Policy, IOS Press, Delft
University of Technology, Netherlands, in which he evaluated the National Housing Policy in
Zambia.His case study was based on two urban centers namely Kitwe and Lusaka. In this
study, he examined the feasibility of successful Housing Policy in Zambia and concluded that
the current National Housing Policy has been a failure and that though the 1996 Housing
Policy was more comprehensive and more participative (in terms of policy stakeholders
participation), there exists a big gap (feasibility gap) between implementation and
formulation of the policy. He further noted that though there had been a remarkable change in
housing development since 1996, it was much due to the spill-over effects of the liberalized
market system and reintroduction of liberal democracy in Zambia rather than the
implementation of the National Housing Policy.

UN-Habitat had also carried a number of researches on Housing Policy, impact assessments,
land policy and building standards in Zambia and many other countries. Notable among these
was the sustainable Lusaka project launched prior to the National Housing Policy. This was
done through the National Urban and Peri-Urban Settlement Management Programme which
carried out five projects supported by the UNCHS whose main objective was capacity
building to strengthen the institutions and local communities to improve and ensure effective
housing delivery, infrastructure and services; and to support the first phase of

15
environmentally sustainable development and growth of Lusaka by strengthening local
capacity to plan, coordinate and manage environment/ development interactions.

Schlyter, A. (1998) in (Housing Policy in Zambia: Retrospect and Prospect. Habitat

International, Vol. 22, No.3 pp.259-271) also revealed in a study of the National Housing
Policy in Zambia that, failure to put in real efforts especially in financing, land reforms and
security of tenure has remained big stumbling block to housing delivery in Zambia. The UN-
HABITAT (2005) reviewed further that law and policy reform in terms of constitutional, land
Act and Local government regulation, Rent Act, Marital law, inheritance law and national
gender needed revisiting to enhance housing delivery in terms of governance, capacity
building at all levels, land management, coordination of efforts, implementation strategy and
procedural in the success and failure of the Housing Policy in Zambia. This report, alongside
Schlyter’s analysis provided a very comprehensive view of National Housing situation and
problems and its recommendations as practical and applicable to the Zambian situation.
However, like the previous studies, it ignored people who were the beneficiaries but took an
institutional and stakeholder approach in its primary and secondary data collection. Secondly,
it was gender biased and ignored other poor people who were also vulnerable and needing
voice and a say for the study to be representative.

According to Oxley (2004), housing needs are socially determined and linked to acceptable
standards of decent housing. Housing demand, on the other hand, is a function of income and
economic power. There are different sorts of needs and demand: socio-economic needs, tribal
needs, felt needs and ascertained needs. All of these are factors of felt needs based on the
requirements of individuals. Third parties like governments establish ascertained needs in
order to ensure certain minimum acceptable standards, on which housing standards are based,
but unfortunately most lower-income groups are often below the level of ascertained needs.
As a result of this, some households have a need but not a demand for decent housing
(Erkelens, 1991).

Housing demand depends on factors such as: (1) disposable income, (2) population growth,
(3) demographic structure (e.g. age, household size), (4) housing preferences and tastes, and
(5) taxation and investment policies (Bourne, 1981). Effective demand for housing is demand
at existing prices, which can be met. Willingness and the ability to pay for housing depend
mainly on the household income and factors. Effective demand is therefore economically
determined. When people have more to spend, they will demand for housing of a higher

16
standard. ‘Potential demand is a need that is expected to be satisfied when some condition is
met in the future’ (Erkelens, 1991). Demand for housing is therefore composed of direct
growth demand, which arises because of a growth in aggregate population or a change in the
demographic structure of that population. The World Bank (1993; 2003) expanded these
determinants to include the rate of urbanisation and new household formation, as well as
macroeconomic conditions that affect household incomes.

According to Lefebvre (2003), Household income plays an important role in

determining the level of ownership. In Canada only 40% of households in the lowest income
quintile owned houses compared to 85% in the highest in 2003. The study further reviewed
that the majority of Canadian households owned the dwelling they lived in, but ownership
rates varied depending on their income. John M. Quigley and Steven Raphael (2004) in their
study observed that income can be a misleading measure of housing affordability; for
example, many retirees have low annual incomes, yet own their homes. For many of these
households, current low incomes are likely reflective of retirement rather than material
poverty. For the non elderly poor and near poor, homeownership rates are very low. Thus,
housing choices are likely to be made based on self-assessments of permanent income
rather than current annual income. Most mortgage underwriting criteria consider only
current income.

Low Income Housing Development in Lusaka

The low income housing development strategies in Zambia have been going on since the
colonial times. The strategies were inconsistent and haphazard. The properly planned and
documented strategies for the low-income housing however were put in place after
independence. The development and implementation of the strategies help in understanding
where the current low-income housing crisis has emanated from. One of the early low-income
housing development strategies was the 1948 African Housing Ordinance. Under this
Ordinance, Africans were provided with self- help African housing areas. This was done by
the allocation of plots to enable one build a house and a pit latrine. Since there was no
insistence on the statutory building standards, cheaper conventional building materials were
used. In Lusaka, examples of such areas were Chibolya and New Kanyama. The Lusaka
Municipal council also did construct houses in Matero and Chilenje. It is reported that the
quality and size of more than half of the dwellings in the capital had one or two rooms. Only
1% was wired for electric lighting. For Matero and Chilenje, the houses in the 1950’s were

17
built out of concrete block and consisted of a porch, a sitting room, one or two bricks or mud-
“packed poles (Simons, 1975). The unauthorised settlements continued to grow as the houses
built were still inadequate. Further pressure for growth of African urban settlements came
from the low-income earners whose contracts came to an end but did not return to their
villages as expected but opted to remain. It is clear from the historical account above that the
rapid population growth for Lusaka was beyond the expectation of the local authority and
thus unauthorizedself-help settlements continued to spring up. It is worth mentioning that
some of the settlements were on the white settlers’ farms who even charged rent to the
occupants. The farmers were reported to havebeen collecting as much as £22,000 per annum
(Armor, 1957). The standards of the unauthorised settlements were poor as the residents did
not invest in them. The reasons cited for this was the lack of security of tenure and the fact
the most of these residents were either unemployed or were low income earners and thus
could not have adequate resources. The specific low income housing development strategies
that were implemented after independence were the informal housing policy or the site and
service scheme, the squatter upgrading schemes and the Housing improvement areas.

Informal Housing Policy or the Site and Service Scheme

In 1965, Local authorities were directed by the government to demarcate and service plots
where people could build their own houses. Capital grants were given to the councils for this
purpose. The plots were of two types. The first type of plots had water supply and water-
borne sewerage disposal connection to an ablution block. The Second type was ‘basic’ plots.
These plots consisted of 25 households sharing a standpipe with no water-borne sewage
disposal connection. The residents were to get loans in the form of materials, which they were
to pay back in form of a monthly charge. The monthly charges included capital charges, debt
charges, management fees and utilities. The recovery for these monies was very poor. This
basic type of site and services was later abandoned to full site and service undertaken in the
Second National Development Plan.” The target of the SNDP was to service 67,000 planned
plots within this plan period. In 1978, 46,000 residential plots remained to be serviced”
(Department of Town and Country Planning, 1979). An example of the site and service
settlement in Lusaka is Kaunda Square. The poor performance of this scheme was attributed
to the beneficiaries inability to pay their dues and the difficulties faced by the programme.
The difficulties included lack of finances, legal and lack of qualified personnel to help with
the implementation. This whole scheme was later abandoned.

18
LITERATURE REVIEW ON MORTGAGE FINANCING IN ZAMBIA

Housing finance is a significant driver of economic growth in developed and developing

countries alike. Any housing market includes construction, building materials, equipment,
finance and labour suppliers. But the housing market flourishes only where these suppliers
and institutions are effective in the provision of housing and finance (Chiquier and Lea,
2009). In terms of housing finance, a well-functioning mortgage market typically has a
catalytic impact on the development of housing finance provision through several institutions,
such as banking, contractual savings, capital markets and community institutions, that are
channelling funds between surplus and deficit agents in the housing and mortgage markets
(Sunegaand Lux, 2007).

A well-functioning mortgage market should help increase access and affordability in the
housing market. Its focus should include enabling adequate supply and sustainable resource
mobilization and the provision of finance for housing supply and demand (World
Bank,2005). Further, it should have the ability to overcome obstacles, including lending
restrictions, lack of financial infrastructure, legal and regulatory constraints, limited
institutional capacity and lack of access to mortgage credit.

Zambia National Building Society (ZNBS), one of Zambia's leading financial

institutions engaged in the business of mortgage financing, was established by the
Government in 1970 by an act of Parliament, resulting from a merger of three private building
societies. The primary objective of establishing the ZNBS by the Government was to
increase housing stock in the country's provision of mortgage loans and undertaking
construction housing projects. This was to enable Zambians finance property development
for both residential and commercial purposes.

Other private building societies such as the Pan African Building Society (PABS) and
Finance Building Society (FBS) established in 1994 and 2004 respectively came in also to
help Zambians at all levels of income to buy, build, extend and renovate houses using
mortgage finance.

19
Critique of the Zambia National Housing Policy
Despite the efforts made over the years to address the housing crisis in Zambia through the
different housing policies, there have been a lot of short falls. The national development plans
are perceived to have been formulated beyond what was achievable. For example, the
implementation was overly hampered by the lack of finance. Even where the finances were
available, they tended to be used more for high and middle income houses.

On the provision of housing finance through the establishment of ZNBS, the low- income
earners were unable to access loans. This was due to the cost of houses, which were too high
compared to the people’s levels of income. Secondly, most of the low - income earners did
not have collateral as they were found in the unauthorized settlements which did not have
security of tenure. Concerning the low—income development strategies, the World Bank
upgrading project was said not to have achieved the set expectations. Despite the high
community participation, the repayment of the home loans andservice fees was extremely
poor. There was also lack of interest in the building material loan. This was attributed to lack
of publicity. There was a preference to purchase building materials than to manufacture them
and lastly, it was felt that the project management team alienated the Zambian Government
workers and thus this led to lack of continuity at the time the project was handed over to the
local authority. Despite the enactment of the Housing Statutory and Improvement Areas Act,
1974, Cap 441 of the Laws of Zambia, the government continued to demolish the informal
settlements thus declaring the low cost housing irrelevant. The expectation of residents in
these areas to fund their own housing structures meant that they constructed unsuitable
houses. This is because the residents were in the low-income group and that they were also
unable to access loans from ZNBS. ZNBS did not recognise the 30 years lease. The land
delivery system has been difficult to improve especially for the low- income group. Site and
service support and squatter settlement upgrading was only implemented in few areas and
were mostly donor funded. An example of an upgraded settlement is Kamanga compound in
Lusaka funded by Irish Aid. No sooner had the donors mandate ended than the project came
to an end. The current state of the settlement does not show much improvement.

The latest housing policy of 1996 despite being well intended did not achieve much as the
houses sold under the house empowerment scheme were priced low. This meant that the
construction of new housing units as planned became a very expensive venture. One of the
reasons for the low pricing apart from political mileage was the dilapidated state in which

20
most of the houses were in. However, this brought about gentrification and multi- habitation.
This process gave better access to housing for people with money, i.e people in the middle
and high income bracket. This was due to the fact that some tenants re-sold the houses to
individuals who could afford to offermuch more. As a result the original buyers moved to
rented rooms or moved to shanty compounds (Schlyter, 2002).
On the ZNBS administered Civil Service Housing Loan Scheme, very few of the civil
servants have managed to get a loan. This was because the loan was subject to the individual
loan entitlement which was based on the salary and the property in question having security
of tenure. The higher prices of the houses in Lusaka especially have made it impossible for
the targeted beneficiaries to own property. Secondly, there has been inadequate serviced land
for housing development. As a result, most civil servants are unable to access land. Houses
offered on the open market or the low-cost houses built by PHI are too expensive as
compared to the loan entitlements of the civil servants. Lastly, the money released by the
government to ZNBS has been too little compared to the large number of the target group.
Whatever strategies government has been putting in place for housing, the low-income group
has not benefited as expected. Suitable housing finance for this category of citizens has been
non-existent.

21
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Theoretical Framework: Basic Needs Approach

Basic Needs Approach shall be adopted as a theoretical framework for this research. This
theory arose after the recognition that development is not all about economic growth.
Previously development was defined in terms of economic growth and thus theories centered
on the economic actor. The main reason for the emergence of Basic Needs Approach theory
was because theprevious development efforts had left many people lacking the basics.

Friedmann (1992), points out that like the mainstream doctrine to which it stands in
dialectical opposition, alternative development is not primarily a set of technicalprescriptions
but an ideology. This means that it is bound by certain moral values; forexample, it is argued
that if social and economic development means anything at all, itmust mean a clear
improvement in the conditions of life and livelihoods of ordinarypeople. It is morally wrong
for large numbers of people to be systematically excludedfrom development. Alternative
approaches to development emerged in the 1970s as acritique to theories such as
modernization and dependency. Its proponents argue that conventional development which is
based on institutionalized methods and provisionshave failed to achieve desired results to end
poverty particularly in the Third World.Failure of the conventional development approaches
to improve the poor people’s livesled to the debate of rethinking development.

Pieterse (2001) points out that alternative development has been concerned with practices of
development such as participatory and people-centered approaches and with redefining the
goals of development. However, there has been a lot of emphasis on achieving economic
growth. Alternative development has been concerned with the promotion of different ways of
achieving development such as by empowering the people through participation so as to
enable them to meet their basic needs and rights as well as taking gender issues into
consideration.

Housing as a Basic Need and Human Right

Housing has been identified as one of the core needs in literature. Stewart (1995) states that
besides food, security and safety, man needs adequate shelter as part of the physical needs
that must be satisfied to ensure his healthy survival. Moreover, the Habitat Agenda, a global

22
strategy on human settlements which was adopted by all national governments in Istanbul
Turkey in 1996 recognizes housing as a basic need and human right (UNCHS, 2000).
Therefore housing is taken as a basic need and a human right in this research. A secure place
to live is very crucial for human survival hence housing should be taken as a basic human
right. The right to adequate housing should also be taken as a national priority. That is, in
order to solve the fundamental problem of poverty, governments must focus on ensuring that
this right is observed, and putting in place institutions that make housing to be both
affordable and accessible to everyone (Owen, 2000). In addition to that governments must
ensure that legislation favours the right to adequate housing for everyone including the poor.
The only reason homelessness is allowed to exist is because a person’s need for a home is
seen as a means of someone else making profit (Buehler, 1998). Thus governments must
guard against profiteers especially in market oriented housing provision.
Perhaps the other best way again to understand housing needs is to associate them to
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Maslow (1943; 1954) proposed that every individual has a five
level hierarchy of needs which they attempt to satisfy beginning with physiological well-
being, and progressing successively through safety, social, and esteem, to self-actualisation.
Once a lower level need has been largely satisfied, its impact on behavior diminishes. The
individual is then freed up to progress to higher-level needs, which becomes a major
determinant of behaviour. The Needs only need to be reasonably and progressively satisfied
for one to move up to higher ones. Physiological needs refer to physical survival of a human
being. They include breathing to survive, drinking to satisfy thirst and eating to satisfy
hunger, and the construction of any sort of shelter from the elements. When physiological
needs have been reasonably satisfied, safety and security needs become aroused. In housing,
individuals look for security of tenure to ensure their property is safe. If insecurity lingers,
only temporal shelter will be maintained. However, assurance of security secures this need
and tenants aspire for a higher need and improve their shelter by constructing in permanent
materials.

23
CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

DATA ANALYSIS

The study was exploratory and a retrospective approach was used to consider the
affordability of housing by the poor. A combination of qualitative and quantitative data
collection was used. A blend of key informant interviews, questionnaires and a
comprehensive document review were used. Several approaches were used in order to
ensure internal and external validity.

Qualitative methodology was used to gain a deeper understanding of people’s views and their
feelings about the impacts that partial or non-implementation of housing policy has had on
their lives. It also meant to understand how they view lack of basic services and affordable
housing. Onthe overall, the research instruments used include desk top surveys, case study
methodology, in-depth individual interviews, lived experiences, and participant observations.
It includes the administration of both semi-structured and structured questionnaires to
selected individuals and organizations who took part in the formulation of the 1996 National
Housing Policy, and those involved in implementing it.The use of quantitative data in this
study, in particular, might be considered insignificant because it is limited in its use of
quantitative methodology, so non-probability, purposive sampling is used.

The Research Population

The research population included the Ministry of Local Government and Housing
Authority (MoLGH) the policy maker of housing in Zambia, National Housing
Authority (NHA), provider of low cost housing in Nyumba Yanga. A total of 143
NyumbaYanga low cost houses were sold to the public during the period 2004 to 2008.
Nyumba Yangaresidents occupying the low cost houses were also part of the population.

Sampling Design and Sample Size

The sample size comprised of 53 respondents of which 40 came from NyumbaYanga, 5 key
informants from the Ministry of Local Government and Housing and the remaining 8 came
from the National Housing Authority. The choice of 53 respondents had been influenced by

24

40
the rule of the central limit theory which states that a random sample equal or greater than 30
is able to provide a normal distribution on the characteristics of the population under
consideration.

The Ministry of Local Government and Housing (MoLGH) was picked being the policy
maker of low cost housing and housing in general as per the NHP 1996. National Housing
Authority (NHA) was picked being one institution identified by the NHP 1996 as responsible
for the provision low cost housing and currently constructing and selling the low cost houses
in Nyumbayanga area of Lusaka.

SAMPLING METHOD
A purposive sampling technique will be used to select key informants because these were
among the known implementing partners of the policy.

INSTRUMENTS OF DATA COLLECTION

Primary and secondary data collection will be employed as a source of collection of
information.

Primary Data

Primary information concerning low cost housing was obtained through individual
interviews and questionnaires with the government officials at MoLGH and NHA,
residents of NyumbaYanga, Lusaka.

Secondary Data

Secondary information was gathered from published and unpublished data . The
information in form of policy documents and other official reports on Low Cost
Housing were obtained from the Ministry of Local Government and Housing
(MoLGH) in Lusaka and National Housing Authority (NHA), headquarters in Lusaka. The
secondary information also includes literature from other studies and websites.

25
LIMITATIONS TO THE STUDY

Interpreting the questionnaire for those who could not read or write in English was a difficult
task hence they could not express themselves effectively through the questionnaires.
Furthermore, some respondents were uncooperative because previous research done by other
researchers in the area had yielded no results hence they felt that responding to the
questionnaires would be a waste of time, thereby leading to non responses in some cases.

Organisations like NHA took time to give the details of the on the sale of houses and
could not give details for houses built and sold before 2004. Most of the residents of the
NyumbaYanga low cost houses are tenants and could thereforenot respond to issues such
as the range of income as it relates to the owner of the house. This was to assist in knowing
the income group of the owner.

DATA ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES

The analysis and interpretation of the data will use computer software known as Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel. SPSS will be used to analyze
quantitative data while Microsoft Excel on the other hand will be used to analyze qualitative
data due to its ability to produce quality graphs and tables that are necessary in the analysis
process.

RATIONALE FOR THE CASE STUDY

An important rationale for this study is that Zambia is already one of the most urbanised
countries in sub-Saharan Africa, although its urban population showed a temporal decline
from 39% In 1990, to 36% in 2000 (GRZ, CSO, 2003, p. xi), and some were quick to
mention that Zambia was gradually reruralising or de-urbanising (Potts, 2005). With
changing and improved economic activities in its urban areas, this negative process cannot
continue, so as other countries urbanise in line with world trends, Zambia’s urban population
will also change and increase.
At the moment Over 45% of its urban Population live in squatter settlements, indicating
unsatisfied surplus demand over supply in the housing market, which is an indication of
inherent problems on the supply side of the equation that needs government’s intervention.

26
RESEARCH FINDINGS/RESULTS

CHALLENGES FACED BY THE POOR IN ACQUIRING DECENT SHELTER.

The graphs below show the challenges faced by the poor in acquiring decent shelter.

PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS

FIGURE 5: FACTORS AFFECTING ACCESS TO LAND

40 35
35
30
PERCENTAGES

25
20 17
15 12 12
10
10 6 5
5 3
0

hindrances to land accessibility

FIGURE 6: ACCESS TO LAND, FINANCES AND OTHER SERVICES

70
59
60

50
percentages

40

30 27

20

10 7
3 2 2
0

levels of accessibilty

27
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
As noted in figure 5 corruption (35%), long procedures, lack of finances, lack of collaterals
and shortage of land were the major challenges faced by the poor in the acquisition of decent
shelter. Most of the respondents (86%) indicated that access to land and finances were the
major challenges as noted in figure 6. The study also found that 43% of the respondents
indicated that they were facing a challenge of high cost of building a house, while 20% had
challenges of high rentals and about 10% facing a challenge of high cost of buying a house.
The implication of these challenges on the part of the poor is that they are unable to acquire
decent shelter. On the part of service providers these challenges make them less effective in
their provision of decent shelter to the poor.
It can, therefore, be seen that despite the implementation of the National Housing Policy,
certain challenges that existed prior to the implementation of the policy in 1996 have
continued. For instance, lack of adequate finances, lack of the National Implementation
Strategy, poor land regimes, inter alia.
This chapter evaluates the performance of the National Housing Policy. Performance means
the impact that the implementation of the National Housing Policy has had in the provision of
decent shelter to the poor. The focus will be on whether or not the policy has enhanced the
acquisition of decent shelter by the poor. The outcome will reflect the value or worth of the
policy. The table below shows the cross tabulation between income and decent shelter.

PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS
120
100
percentages

80
60
40
20
0

elements of decent shelter

4.3. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

From the findings above, 71.4% of the poor have access to electricity while 28.6% have no
access to electricity, 31.4% have access to flushing toilets while 68.6% do not, 35.5% have
access to asbestos roofing while 33.3% do not, 22.9% have access to piped water while
28
77.1% have no access. Further, 2.9% have access to street lighting while 97.1 do not, 60.0%
have access to garbage collection while 40.0 do not, 17.1% have access to good drainage
system and 82.9% have no access to drainage system.
The implication of the finding is that on average 58.4% of the poor people in Zambia cannot
afford decent shelters while on average only 41.6% of poor people have access to decent
shelter.

Issues focusing on the Ministry of Local Government and Housing Authority (MoLGH)
included among others, the low-income housing problem, finance mechanisms for low-
income housing, administrative structure in place to guarantee the provision of low-income
housing and awareness of the legislature and international declarations which relates to
housing. The reason behind developing this housing policy was that there is a huge backlog
in housing which needs to be cleared. It was also felt that there is a need to come up with a
policy that will ensure decent and affordable housing, a policy that can bring about economic
empowerment and alleviate poverty. In addition to that the purpose was to ensure that
housing standards are not compromised and lastly to involve other players in housing. On
whether there are instruments of the policy to protect the low-income earners from the
fraudulent suppliers of housing material and services, the ministry relies on building by-laws
put in place to give the standards of material to be used. However the problem is how to
monitor those suppliers.
The major approaches to housing problem that were raised during the interview include the
subsidy system. The housing problem has led the government to provide subsidies on land
and therefore land sold for residential purposes is sold at 40%, which is 20% less than the
market rate. Furthermore the Zambia National Building Society was recapitalised in 2014,
with a capital contribution of K165 million. The aim is to enable more people gain access to
affordable housing credit. The Government is also working with the private sector to resolve
the housing deficit in the country. The Government has allocated K799 million in the 2015
Budget for housing and community amenities.

Results obtained from National housing Authority for the city of Lusaka focused on the
following issues; the housing waiting list, affordability problems, funding options for housing

29
provision, planning policies, policy on private sector participation and building standards.
The housing waiting list had 120 000 low income earners although it is presumed that there
are more than 500 000 people in need of accommodation. In that waiting list people are
classified using income levels and those in the least low income bracket are said to be
experiencing affordability problems. In addition to the income levels the Department also
considers the marital status and type of employment (formal and informal employment) in
classifying people on the waiting list. The cost of most basic house of 4 rooms was quoted at
US$25000. Registration on the housing waiting list and allocations based on a first come first
served basis and affordability (salary and savings). Lodging is only accepted as a temporary
solution to the problem that the city is facing but in the end people should have adequate
housing. On a related issue backyard structures are considered illegal and from time to time
the city council has been forced to destroy such structures. Furthermore there are proper
building standards that have to be followed and people should not build anywhere as this
inconveniences the planning structure of the city. Therefore these matters of policy that were
raised during the interviews are considered in the analysis of the policy document. As stated
earlier on, this exercise was meant to get the most out of the respondents so as to supplement
the secondary data. Thus these findings and the examination of the policy statements lead to
the achievement of the objectives of this study. The council’s policy of restricting private
sector to home ownership housing may limit its full participation as some people may not
afford to own houses but can afford to rent. Instead the council should leave the provision of
housing open so as to encourage the private sector. To protect low-income earners against the
private sector companies who provide housing for unreasonable prices the council should put
price controls on houses. This will allow private sector companies that are comfortable with
the fixed maximum prices to compliment the cash strapped public sector.

Middle and high income housing is also getting attention from the private sector. A growing
number of developers are interested in supplying housing in the US$40 000 to US$80 000
range, focusing on Lusaka. Smart Homes Africa is a subsidiary of an American real estate
and development company focusing on affordable housing in Africa. Operating out of
Lusaka, Smart Homes targets the delivery of middle income and affordable housing,
workforce and student housing. Their most recent development offers two- to four-bedroom

30
units, star ting at US$40 000. The increasing interest in housing supply in Zambia is putting
pressure on the mortgage system to grow in parallel. There is also pressure on the land
governance system.

Recent macroeconomic developments have had a negative impact on the formal construction
industry. In the past, developers have sought foreign denominated loans offered at lower
interest rates to finance new development. In May 2012, however, the Minister of Finance
introduced a Statutory Instrument (SI 33) prohibiting the use of foreign currency in domestic
transactions. This was followed with instrument SI 68, which prohibited indexation
(referencing the contract amount to another currency or commodity) in contracts. While
designed to strengthen the use of the Zambian Kwacha, these measures have undermined the
financing approach developers were using to support t housing affordability. The industry has
had to find new mechanisms to hedge against exchange rate risk, and as a result, a number of
projects have been put on hold.

NGOs such as Homeless International are involved in helping to fund the housing efforts of
the very poor. The People’s Process on Housing and Poverty in Zambia and UK-based
Homeless International have worked with the Zambia Homeless and Poor People’s
Federation to mobilise 48 000 urban poor families into the federation, to secure land in 42
municipalities and to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the NHA to commit land to
federation members. With support from Lafarge, which donated 1 008 bags of cement,
Habitat for Humanity Zambia has built 2 150 houses. While important, these efforts are small
compared to the need.

A standard 50kg bag of cement costs ZMW75.00, while a standard sheet of corrugated iron
for roofing costs the following: IT4 Norm Colour per metre – ZMW47.00 and IT4 norm 0.40
GI/ Silver ZMW 35.00/metre.

There is enormous potential for residential housing and sentiment is positive. For example,
cement manufacturer, Lafarge, recently identified Zambia as a prime untapped market. The
shortage of quality housing at the higher end of the market is driving several developments of
modern cluster-style homes, particularly in the south and east of Lusaka. According to real
estate agent Knight Frank, the growing supply side is creating better competitiveness and

31
improving affordability in the residential proper ty market. Knight Frank highlights the
middle, affordable housing market as having the most growth potential.

Resale housing stock in Zambia is limited, especially given that 80 percent of Zambia’s total
housing stock is classified as informal. Lower income groups have a greater problem in
obtaining affordable housing, as this end of the market has little formal development. While
the National Housing Policy of 1996 continues to be in force, its commitment to government
spending of 15 percent of the national budget on housing is felt to be too ambitious, and
indeed, this has never been achieved. A new housing policy is being drafted, but has not yet
been concluded.

The limitations on mortgage finance are apparent in this country where less than 40 percent
of the population hold formal title. The title registration system is improving. According to
the World Bank’s 2014 Doing Business Report, it takes on average 43–50 days to go through
the five procedures involved in registering a property in 2014. The cost of the registration
process is about 8.2 percent of the property’s value. Globally, Zambia ranks 102th out of 189
countries in terms of its property registration process.

Zambia has targeted improvements in its land administration system with some success.
Acknowledging informality, the Housing (Statutory and Improvement Areas) Act is
progressive land tenure legislation that allows for incremental and flexible housing
development. The Act limits tenure security to an occupancy licence, with collective title held
by the local authority. This is especially suitable for building methods financed through
housing microfinance. In fact, progressive land laws and the low reach of conventional forms
of housing finance create enormous potential for housing microfinance. Zambia passed its
Urban and Regional Planners Act in 2011. This is important given the limiting effect of past
urban management legislation in allowing for sufficient supply of well- serviced land. In its
Sixth National Development Plan (2011–2015), the government proposes building 150 000
homes a year through 2015 – 500 000 of which would be for low income households. Still,
UN-Habitat suggests that legislated plot sizes will significantly undermine the state’s capacity
to deliver on this and its earlier goal of 1.3 million houses by 2030. At 15 units per hectare (as
suggested in the Fourth National Development Plan), the area of four Lusakas would be
required, just for residential land.

32
The Zambian judiciary is undergoing substantial reform to ensure that it is faster, more secure
and transparent. Significant challenges remain in reforming laws in other areas, in particular
the need to improve legislation around collateral and credit recovery.

The institutional roles were well identified by the key informants who are also the
implementing officers of the policy. The identified roles reflect 73% of the total roles stated
in the policy document, implying that institutional roles are clearly defined.

What the findings tell about institutional frameworks put in place is that though the
institutional and individual roles are clear, they are still ineffective because the guiding
documents on how these roles should be executed and the standards of performance are
insufficiently provided.

Clearly, the findings are in line with what Makasa (2010) revealed in his feasibility
assessment of the National Housing Policy as revealed above in the literature review where a
gap still remains between the implementation and formulation of the policy in that it has a
weak institutional capacity which could not accommodate a proper National Housing
Implementation Strategy which the findings above reveal that after about15 years there has
been no fully-fledged guiding implementation strategy.

This chapter evaluates the performance of the National Housing Policy. Performance means
the impact that the implementation of the National Housing Policy has had in the provision of
decent shelter to the poor. The focus will be on whether or not the policy has enhanced the
acquisition of decent shelter by the poor. The outcome will reflect the value or worth of the
policy. The table below shows the cross tabulation between income and decent shelter.

PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS

33
 120
percentages 100
80
60
40
20
0

elements of decent shelter

4.3. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

From the findings above, 71.4% of the poor have access to electricity while 28.6% have no
access to electricity, 31.4% have access to flushing toilets while 68.6% do not, 35.5% have
access to asbestos roofing while 33.3% do not, 22.9% have access to piped water while
77.1% have no access. Further, 2.9% have access to street lighting while 97.1 do not, 60.0%
have access to garbage collection while 40.0 do not, 17.1% have access to good drainage
system and 82.9% have no access to drainage system.
The implication of the finding is that on average 58.4% of the poor people in Zambia cannot
afford decent shelters while on average only 41.6% of poor people have access to decent
shelter. This shows an improvement in the provision of decent housing as compared to what
it was in the year 2001 which reflected a poor performance in the distribution of the total
national housing stock which showed that 80% of the houses were informal and poorly
serviced or no serviced at all as clearly reflected in the background. Though there has been
this increase in the provision of decent housing to the poor in Zambia, it should, however, be
noted that this could not have been as a consequence of the implementation of the National
Housing Policy as clearly evidenced by persistence of a number of factors that have
continued to prevent the effective operations of the institutional framework and other
challenges that are faced by both the service providers and the beneficiaries-the poor people.

5.3Affordability
Affordability levels for conventional housing finance are low, and a recent study suggests that
households spend a considerable proportion of their income to address their housing needs.
Some seven percent of the population (about 185 000 households) live in high and medium
cost urban areas or large-scale rural areas. Their household expenditure is on average above

34
ZMW2 500 (US$392) a month, and their housing costs are about ZMW400 000 (US$62
696). On average, the monthly expenditure on rental for this group can be up to 50 percent of
their income. About 30 percent (835 000 households) live in low cost urban areas, or
medium cost and scale rural areas. Their monthly household expenditure is about ZMW1 500
to ZMW2 500 (US$235 to US$392). Housing in this segment costs between ZMW100 000
(US$15 674) for a house constructed with basic materials to ZMW500 000 (US$78 370) for a
quality constructed house, and monthly rental expenditure can be as much as 40 percent of
income. The majority of the population (63 percent, or 1.765 million households) have a
monthly household expenditure of less than ZMW1 500 (US$235). Their housing
affordability is for units costing less than ZMW100 000, and they can also spend up to 40
percent of their monthly income on rental. Only 11 percent of employed adults earn a formal
salary or wage, undermining access to mortgage finance even further. Stringent terms such as
high deposit requirements (as high as 20 percent) and relatively shor t loan terms from two to
ten years make it difficult to afford mortgage finance. Due to the general unavailability of
mortgages, many buyers purchase finished units with cash.

The government has made statements regarding improved housing delivery, but its capacity
to make a difference is limited by fiscal constraints. Although the National Urban
Development Plan projects the delivery of 500 000 units between 2011 and 2016 (based on a
projected 15 percent allocation of the national budget to housing), this has never transpired.
In 2014, the government has allocated ZMW661 million to Housing and Community
Amenities, which is 1.5 percent of the budget. Within this allocation, ZMW417.8 million will
be used to enhance access to safe water and good sanitation in both rural and urban areas. In
addition, ZMW6 billion (US$940 million) has been allocated for titling of land. It is
estimated that around 60 percent of the population has informal title deeds. The titling
process hopes to provide property owners access to title deeds and thereby access to finance.

The costs of houses varied. In the valuation exercise, the government valuation
departmenttook intoconsiderationtheage of the property(house),the physicalcondition
ofthehouse,supplyanddemandforces,maintenance/repairs discount,andlengthof
occupancy.Themarketvalueandtheproposedsellingpriceforeachhouseweretobe

35
 soldbasedonthecurrentvaluationreportexceptthelowcosthousesconstructedbefore
1959(MoLGH,1996b)

Once an offer has been made and accepted, payments for the houses were to be
completedwithin18months.Whilea nonrefundable10 percentdepositofthepurchase priceof the
housewasto be paidwithin45daysfromthedateof offer.Providedthat normalrentcontinuedtobe
paidforthehouseuntilcompletion,suchrentwastocount towardsthe reductionof the
principalamount.Whilegovernmentvaluationprovidedthe basisforthe
pricedetermination,governmentwouldofferthe relevantdiscounts
instancelowcosthousesbuiltbefore1959(inthecolonialera)werealmostfreeof charge because
theirphysical condition wasdescribed asnotfitforhuman habitation. This meantthat
uponbuyingsuchhouses,the ownersweresupposedto renovateorimprove
themastheyweredilapidated.Thetenantsweretopayaslittleas(10,500ZMK=2
USD)thisamountwastoenablethemtohavetheirtitledeedsprocessed.

LOW COST HOUSING

Information obtained on low cost housing in relation to the housing policy

According to the information obtained from the MoLGH, the purpose of the low cost housing
was to help the low income earners to benefit from decent affordable shelter. The respondent
gave an example of the Zambia Low Cost Housing Development Fund (ZLHDF),
formerly Africa Housing Fund (AHF), the National Housing Authority (NHA) and
Municipal councils whose responsibility was that of provision of low cost housing in
Zambia.AHF an NGO, helped in the provision of low cost housing in 5 selected areas being:
Lusaka, Linda, Mazabuka, Mongu, Solwezi and Kasama of which 2404 low cost

36
houses were built as at 2004 and 520 being built in Linda and Chongwe areas of
Lusaka. However, concentration has been in rural area.

37
The municipal councils and National Housing authorities concentrated on the urban
low cost houses built in most districts especially those along the line of rail.

The Presidential Housing Initiative (PHI) established in 1999 as a wing of NHA was
inaugurated to spearhead the government's National Housing Policy whose central
goal was to ensure that the citizens of Zambia were adequately housed. It was set up
by a Cabinet decision and the mission of PHI was to empower the majority of
Zambians with decent and affordable shelter in an equitable manner and in doing so,
to be responsible for the housing needs of the lower income group. Among its
objectives was the need to revive the construction industry which had collapsed and
almost dormant in order to enhance homeownership and ease the demand for quality
housing. The immediate task was to build at least 4000 housing units in Lusaka as a
demonstration or pilot project. Chainama site, also known as Bennie
MwiingaHousing Estate, was picked and the categories of houses that were to be built
included 728 low cost houses, 286 medium and 178 high cost houses.

The purpose of the scheme was to cater also for low income earners by making
available well serviced but affordable housing. The resources that were to be used
included the proceeds from the sale of parastatal and government houses and grant
from the Government. The sales of these houses were to be reinvested back into the
construction of more houses. No subsidies therefore were to be put in place for the
people to buy the houses under the scheme. The Government did not put a mechanism

38
in place of how people were to access finances to acquire or maintain the houses. The cost of
the houses turned out to be expensive as a one bed roomed low cost house in 2006 was
costing K83, 513,321.58. This was due to high costs of building materials and the designs of
the houses were not in line with the budget figures to serve the low income group. Other
issues attributed to the high cost were the use of indoor designers which resulted in the
client not having done a thorough and careful job in terms of using economic ways of
designing to achieve well serviced but affordable housing units. The PHI scheme was
dissolved in 2002 under the accusations of corruption.

Information on NyumbaYanga low cost houses as provided by NHA

Respondents from the NHA also confirmed that the initial purpose was to assist the low
income group in acquiring affordable and decent shelter; however, the low cost houses that
have been constructed and sold in the previous years are not targeted for the low income
group, but any Zambian citizen with the ability to purchase such houses. In practice these
houses are only accessible to the middle and high income groups, as the company has to
recoup the building expenses in full from the sales. There is no Grant received from the
Government to help in its operations. Whilst the NHA finances construction of what is
defined as low cost housing', it does not finance the mortgage loans that would be needed
in order to enable the low income group to access such housing in practice.

There was no documented definition of a low cost house, however, in the National Housing
Policy document. The NHA despite having had spearheaded the construction of the so called
'low cost houses' could not provide a documented and formal definition of a low cost
house and later on a defined beneficiary or beneficiaries. According to the respondent at
NHA a low cost house was rather defined by the Quality of finishing or level of finishing
and also the plot size. 'The term low cost house is arbitrary used,' he said. The low cost
houses of Nyumbayanga have no floor tiles, ceilings, no bathtubs and the houses are close to
each other. The NHA houses available for sale are in form of what is known as already
standing houses (completed houses) or arranged houses (preconstruction sales). Sometimes
the constructions of these houses are subcontracted.
39
The difference between the two is that the first arrangement is wholly financed by the
NHA using borrowed funds. The essence, therefore, is to sell as quickly as possible in
order to pay back loans. Sales are conducted on first come first served basis, until all
available units are sold. Prospective buyers are allowed to pay for the house in
installments of 12 months provided the first installment is a minimum of 50% of the
total sales price. The house remains the property of NHA and under its custody with
all rights reserved until the full purchase price is paid.

The second arrangement is where NHA has sanctioned away selected land and each
client is given a choice to select a suitable plot and house plan from the available list
and upon payment of 60% of the total sales price construction works commence.
When the house is roofed, the client is required to raise his deposit paid to 90% of the
total construction cost. The final 10% is payable upon completion of the house and
ready for hand over.

In both cases, generous defects liability of up to six months from the date of the house
handover applies. During this period, any defect to structure arising from poor
workmanship is rectified by NHA.

These houses are advertised in the newspapers to the public or by direct enquire by
prospective buyers. However, the respondents at NHA indicated that the low income
group has not benefited in these low cost houses due to the high purchase cost and the
institution does not actually target the low income earners but rather any Zambian
citizen who can afford. The officials at NHA stated that the costs of the low cost
houses are high due to the costs involved in the construction such as building
materials which are expensive. NHA sales these houses at a profit and also
considering that they are supposed to use the funds generated for their operation as the
Government does not in any way help in terms of giving them a Grant to help in
cushioning their operations.

40
The selling prices by NHA of the most recent houses constructed between 2004 and
2008 are as follows:

Selling prices of NyumbaYanga in phases

Phase 1 Phase2 Phase3 Phase4

2004 K82.2m K82.2m K122m K114m
2005 K159m
2006 K154m K176m
2007 K176m K306m
2008 K176m K163m

Source: NHA

The respondent stated that the low cost houses sold in 2007 phase 1 had floor tiles and
ceilings ,but built on the floor size of the low cost house hence the selling price of
K309m.

41
NHA sometimes enters into agreement with the customers through Finance Building
Society (FBS) were clients obtain mortgages. A letter of undertaking is written to the
FBS as security where the houses have no certificate of title in case a mortgage loan is
used. Title deeds take too long to come out due to the lengthy processes at the
Ministry of Lands, but due to the trust that FBS has in NHA because of it
parastatalposition, the mortgage loans are given out. Most high income earned people
have benefited and some medium earned groups. The houses are very much on
demand to the high income group and, therefore, are sold within a short period of
time.

Information obtained from residents of NyumbaYanga

My visit to NyumbaYanga revealed that out of the random sample of 30 houses, only
4 were owners, two of which were NHA employees. The 26 residents were tenants,
although some were able to tell the cost of the houses from information from friends
and NHA, some were not able to tell. The indication from most of the tenants were
such that their Landlords earned more than K6 million looking at the places they were
staying and positions held at their workplace. The two owners from NHA had their
salaries in the range of K 1 million to K2million and since they were employees of
NHA special arrangements were made as per their conditions of service. If it was not
for that they too could not have managed to buy. The other two outsiders had the
salaries of more than three million and one used his pension money to buy the house.
This picture was taken during the discussion with the pensioner who considered his
two bed roomed house to be too expensive and too small for the big family he has.

3.2. CHALLENGES FACED BY THE POOR IN ACQUIRING DECENT SHELTER.

The graphs below show the challenges faced by the poor in acquiring decent shelter.

3.2.1. PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS

FIGURE 5: FACTORS AFFECTING ACCESS TO LAND

42

66
 40 35
35
30
PERCENTAGES

25
20 17
15 12 12
10
10 6 5
5 3
0

hindrances to land accessibility

FIGURE 6: ACCESS TO LAND, FINANCES AND OTHER SERVICES

70
59
60

50
percentages

40

30 27

20

10 7
3 2 2
0

levels of accessibilty

3.2.2. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

As noted in figure 5 corruption (35%), long procedures, lack of finances, lack of
collaterals and shortage of land were the major challenges faced by the poor in the
acquisition of decent shelter. Most of the respondents (86%) indicated that access to
land and finances were the major challenges as noted in figure 6. The study also found
that 43% of the respondents indicated that they were facing a challenge of high cost of
building a house, while 20% had challenges of high rentals and about 10% facing a
challenge of high cost of buying a house.

43
3.3. CHALLENGES FACED IN THE PROVISION OF DECENT SHELTER.
3.3.1. PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS
FIGURE 7: CHALLENGES

45
40
35
percentages

30
25
20
15
10
5
0

challenges

3.3.2. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

The findings above indicate that lack of transport, funds, inadequate personnel,
political interference, lack of equipment for construction, delayed delivery of materials
and high cost of construction inputs, and lack of provision of housing services are the
major challenges faced by the service providers in the provision of decent shelter to
the poor.
The implication of these challenges on the part of the poor is that they are unable to
acquire decent shelter. On the part of service providers these challenges make them
less effective in their provision of decent shelter to the poor.
It can, therefore, be seen that despite the implementation of the National Housing
Policy, certain challenges that existed prior to the implementation of the policy in
1996 have continued. For instance, lack of adequate finances, lack of the National
Implementation Strategy, poor land regimes, inter alia.

44
LOW COST HOUSING

5.2.1 Information obtained on low cost housing in relation to the housing policy

According to the information obtained from the MoLGH, the purpose of the low
cost housing was to help the low income earners to benefit from decent
affordable shelter. The respondent gave an example of the Zambia Low Cost
Housing Development Fund (ZLHDF), formerly Africa Housing Fund
(AHF), the National Housing Authority (NHA) and Municipal councils
whose responsibility was that of provision of low cost housing in Zambia.

National Housing Authority (NHA), a parastatal, established in 1971 by an Act of

Parliament Cap 426 of the laws of Zambia and one of the main mechanisms currently
available for the provision of low cost housing in Zambia, according to the National
Housing Policy, was given a responsibility of constructing the low cost housing. The
National Housing policy highlights the functions of NHA as:

a. Promote homeownership through provision of affordable shelter

b. Promote technical assistance to local authorities in the housing sector

c. Construct and maintain housing estates and

d. Undertake research and development on low cost housing

It was established to make better provision for the development and control of
housing throughout Zambia. Before the sale of houses by the Government of the

45
Movement for Multiparty Development (MMD) under the second Republican
president Dr Fredrick Chiluba in 2001, the NHA had constructed low cost houses in
most parts of Zambia which were rented out and finally sold to sitting tenants at a
giveaway price meant to empower the Zambian people. It has large tracts of land and
a large market exits for both rent and sale and deals in all categories of houses such as
executive, high cost, medium cost and low cost houses in the urban areas of Lusaka,
Copperbelt and the provincial centers. Its major emphasis on its function other than
advising the Government regarding the formulation and implementation of national
policies on housing is to support and encourage research in all aspects of housing with
particular emphasis on low cost housing development. The development of the low
cost housing schemes by NHA has spearheaded home ownership in various towns and
cities where houses have been constructed and sold to the general public. In Lusaka,
NHA is well known for the following schemes: Kabwata estates, Woodlands
extension, Nyumbayanga, Presidential Housing Initiative (PHI) etc.

The Presidential Housing Authority (PHI) established in 1999 as a wing of NHA was
inaugurated to spearhead the government's National Housing Policy whose central
goal was to ensure that the citizens of Zambia were adequately housed. It was set up
by a Cabinet decision and the mission of PHI was to empower the majority of
Zambians with decent and affordable shelter in an equitable manner and in doing so,
to be responsible for the housing needs of the lower income group. Among its
objectives was the need to revive the construction industry which had collapsed and
almost dormant in order to enhance homeownership and ease the demand for quality
housing. The immediate task was to build at least 4000 housing units in Lusaka as a
demonstration or pilot project. Chainama site, also known as Bennie
MwiingaHousing Estate, was picked and the categories of houses that were to be built
included 728 low cost houses, 286 medium and 178 high cost houses.

The purpose of the scheme was to cater also for low income earners by making
available well serviced but affordable housing. The resources that were to be used
included the proceeds from the sale of parastatal and government houses and grant
from the Government. The sales of these houses were to be reinvested back into the

46

60
construction of more houses. No subsidies therefore were to be put in place for the
people to buy the houses under the scheme. The Government did not put a mechanism

47
in place of how people were to access finances to acquire or maintain the houses. The cost of
the houses turned out to be expensive as a one bed roomed low cost house in 2006 was
costing K83, 513,321.58. This was due to high costs of building materials and the designs of
the houses were not in line with the budget figures to serve the low income group. Other
issues attributed to the high cost were the use of indoor designers which resulted in the
client not having done a thorough and careful job in terms of using economic ways of
designing to achieve well serviced but affordable housing units. The PHI scheme was
dissolved in 2002 under the accusations of corruption. Below is a picture of a low cost house
constructed at the Chainama site, in Lusaka.

Currently in Lusaka, NHA is administering and constructing the Low Cost Houses in
NyumbaYanga area. This is the only scheme at the moment were low cost houses are being
constructed and sold to the general public. The information on NyumbaYangaLow Cost
houses was obtained from National Housing Authority (NHA) and NyumbaYanga residents.

Information on NyumbaYanga low cost houses as provided by NHA

Respondents from the NHA also confirmed that the initial purpose was to assist the
low income group in acquiring affordable and decent shelter; however, the low cost
houses that have been constructed and sold in the previous years are not targeted for
the low income group, but any Zambian citizen with the ability to purchase such
houses. In practice these houses are only accessible to the middle and high income
groups, as the company has to recoup the building expenses in full from the sales.

NHA finances construction of what is defined as low cost housing', it does not finance the
mortgage loans that would be needed in order to enable the low income group to access such
housing in practice.

There was no documented definition of a low cost house, however, in the National Housing
Policy document. The NHA despite having had spearheaded the construction of the so called
'low cost houses' could not provide a documented and formal definition of a low cost
house and later on a defined beneficiary or beneficiaries. According to the respondent at
NHA a low cost house was rather defined by the Quality of finishing or level of finishing
48

61
62
and also the plot size. 'The term low cost house is arbitrary used,' he said. The low cost
houses of Nyumbayanga have no floor tiles, ceilings, no bathtubs and the houses are close to
each other. The NHA houses available for sale are in form of what is known as already
standing houses (completed houses) or arranged houses (preconstruction sales). Sometimes
the constructions of these houses are subcontracted.

The difference between the two is that the first arrangement is wholly financed by the NHA
using borrowed funds. The essence, therefore, is to sell as quickly as possible in order to pay
back loans. Sales are conducted on first come first served basis, until all available units are
sold. Prospective buyers are allowed to pay for the house in installments of 12 months
provided the first installment is a minimum of 50% of the total sales price. The house
remains the property of NHA and under its custody with all rights reserved until the full
purchase price is paid.

The second arrangement is where NHA has sanctioned away selected land and each client is
given a choice to select a suitable plot and house plan from the available list and upon
payment of 60% of the total sales price construction works commence. When the house is
roofed, the client is required to raise his deposit paid to 90% of the total construction cost.
The final 10% is payable upon completion of the house and ready for hand over.

In both cases, generous defects liability of up to six months from the date of the house handover
applies. During this period, any defect to structure arising from poor workmanship is
rectified by NHA.

INVOLVEMENT OF GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE SECTOR

The private housing sector involvement in the construction of low cost housing has
rather been very low. At the moment there is only ZLCHDF whose concentration is in
rural areas. The others which include the Lilayi Housing Development Project target
the middle and high income groups.

49
The Table6.3 below shows the cost of the houses at Lilayi:

TYPE 2-BEDROOM 3-BEDROOM

House size 63sqm 97sqm
List price K195,000,000 K285,000,000
Plot size 300sqm 300sqm

Source: Lilayi

Other private sectors like Vornavalley and Meanwood also offer expensive plots and
also target the similar group.

Now that the major wing of Government NHA has also diverted to targeting the other
groups other than the low income earners, this leaves a vacuum for low income
earners that need to be filled.

The fifth National Development Plan (FNDP) 2006-2010, on Housing has

highlighted as part of its objectives and strategies to construct 100 housing units
every year (50 low cost, 30 medium and 20 high cost) in each district, encourage
Public-Private Partnerships in the provision of housing and to provide adequate,
affordable low cost housing for the poorest of the poor in the urban areas. The main
problems affecting the housing sector with much emphasis on low cost housing as
also acknowledged by the FNDP 2006-2010 include the high levels of poverty which
has led to few rich Zambians able to afford decent housing and there is
inadequate government investment in low cost housing required by the poor.

50
CONCLUSION

From the respondent point of view, the majority of them(11.3%) suggested that
government should reduce the cost of building materials, 10.1% suggested that
government should build more affordable houses, 8.3% suggested that government
should provide housing loans and the same percentage recommended that government
should improve service delivery. Further 6.0% recommended that government should
ensure easy access to land, 3.6% were of the idea that government should create
employment and 1.8% opted that government should fight corruption in order to enhance
the acquisition of decent shelter by the poor.
At the beginning of this study it was postulated that the constraints of the provision of
housing can be linked to the housing policy. The findings of this study has come up with
several conclusions with regards to the explicit and implicit implications of policy
formulation and expected outcomes. With the policy approach that is in place both the
central government and the local authority are likely to have the difficulty in clearing the
housing problem. The solutions outlined in the housing policy might not have enough
depth that is needed to overturn the present situation. The urban housing policy has put
an over-emphasis in ownership and affordability, and that in the absence of equal
commitment to alternative innovative tenurial options. The issue of home ownership
being prescribed as a solution is problematic. It is without foresight that some people
will never own their own houses but can afford to rent. The issue is not only security of
ownership but that of affording quality shelter with security of options are from the
lodging market as opposed to a public rental market. Thus the policy is not in favour of
the low-income earners because like the previous policies it continues to measure housing
need through lack of ownership.

Low cost houses subjected to renting

The study has revealed that due to the location of the low cost houses which is
said to be of low class, the unavailability of certain facilities such as floor tiles,
bath tubs, dining rooms and ceiling, the small plot sizes and the rooms, these
low cost houses are subjected to rent. This means that the ownership to most low
51
 income earners who form the majority of the Zambian population is denied, but
left to few rich Zambians.

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
With the city of Lusaka population growing and the residential density that goes with it
there is a need for knowledge and acute planning on the part of the policy makers. Poor
policies can lead to a failure to achieve the intended goal of housing people. Thus
informed decision making requires sound information on the housing market operations.
The policymakers need to combine information gathered through land price surveys and
household surveys to provide an up to date, accurate and detailed profile of land and
housing market. This will help to assess the affordability of land for households at
different income levels. In this way low-income earners will be catered for in housing
units that are within their means. This information should also be disseminated to the
private sector home builders so that they can also consider low-income earners in their
building plans.

Collection and analysis of data and research findings should be institutionalized in the
housing sector. Plans, status reports of the housing demand and supply inclusive of the
waiting list, allocation of stands and houses, property transfers, access to mortgage
repayments needs to be institutionalized by the central and local government and the
private sector, in particular the financial institutions should be well compiled so that the
state of the low income earners is known.
Mechanisms for measuring the magnitude of the housing problem should include an
analysis of income and family size in order to have a more targeted approach rather than
the manner in which the housing waiting list is presently compiled. Central government
should legislate for periodic reports from local authorities and private sector on the
income levels of beneficiaries as a way of monitoring the situation. The process of land
acquisition is very cumbersome. There is therefore a need to review standards and
improve land delivery. The use of the Land Acquisition Act is a lengthy process.

52
Based on the above findings, the following recommendations are made:

 Government should reduce the cost of building materials

 Government should build more affordable houses

 Government should provide housing loans to the poor

 Government should ensure easy access to land by the poor

 Government should increase funding to the institutions responsible for the

implementation of the National Housing policy

 Government should review the policy and honor its pledge on giving 15 per cent
of GDP to housing sector

 Lending institutions should reduce interest rates.

53
 1.0.REFERENCES

Kasongo, B.A. and A.G, Triple (1995). An Analysis of Policy Towards Squatters in Kitwe,
Zambia. Third World Planning Review, Vol.12, No.2, pp.147-165.

Makasa, P (2003). Housing and Urban Development Initiatives as a means towards alleviation
of Poverty: The Case of the Presidential Housing Initiative in Zambia. Paper for Institute of
Local Government Studies, Madina, Ghana.

Makasa, P. L. K (2010) the 1996 Zambia National Housing Policy, IOS Press.

Schlyter, A. (1998). Housing Policy in Zambia: Retrospect and Prospect. Habitat International,
Vol. 22, No. 3, pp.259-271.

Zambia Demographic Health Survey (1992)

UN-HABITAT (2005).“Land Tenure, Housing Rights and Gender-National and Urban

Framework: Zambia.”

54
MukukaKowa MSCPM5732014