AfricaPress-Tanzania: TANZANIA joined the rest of the world yesterday to mark World Habitat Day (WHD) to reflect on the state of cities and towns and on the right to adequate shelter for all.
This year’s theme is: ‘Housing For All — A Better Urban Future’. WHD is intended to remind the world that all have the power and the responsibility to shape the future of the cities and towns and to remind the world of its collective responsibility for the future of human settlements.
According to the UN, there are 1.2 billion people globally without somewhere decent to call home, without mentioning homeless people.
Inclusive, affordable and adequate housing is central to transforming cities and communities and making them resilient and to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 11 and all other SDGs.
Demand for housing and housing loans in Tanzania remains extremely high, but is constrained by inadequate supply of affordable housing and high interest rates. Statistics show that affordable housing demand is estimated at 200,000 housing units per annum with an existing housing deficit of 3 million housing units.
The ratio of outstanding mortgage debt to the GDP stood at 0.36 per cent in the fourth quarter last year which is the same as it was in the corresponding period in 2018.
The government has been making significant strides to create an enabling environment and attract more housing investments to improve human settlements.
The efforts include the legalisation of informal settlements, increasing and speeding up the issuance of title deeds as an important strategy to formalise human settlements.
For example, the government will from next year start issuing electronic title deeds where applications and payments will be made electronically, thus reducing unnecessary delays.
Government efforts coupled with ongoing investments in the housing sector through the Tanzania Housing Corporation (THC) pursing various housing projects countrywide to increase affordable houses will to lessen to the great extent housing deficit.
Another important initiative implemented by the private sector financial institution, the Tanzania Mortgage Refinancing Company Limited (TMRC) has been providing long-term mortgage loans through banks.
Delivery of decent homes should be seen as part of a wider goal to improve public service delivery and standards of living for vulnerable people and disadvantaged groups.
Affordable homes are not only a fundamental human right, but they unlock unimaginable human potential to shape the future of gender parity, climate resilience, renewable energy and socioeconomic justice.
Yes, housing is a human right and for that matter a catalyst for all other fundamental rights. It is the only way to ensure ‘Housing For All — A Better Urban Future’.
