Land and Housing Accessible to the Urban Low Income in Botswana
Introduction:
The paper concludes by charting the way forward in searching for a solution for the access of land and housing for the urban poor in Botswana.
A middle income country, has experienced rapid urban growth which has brought in its wake many social and economic problems. One of the key challenges has been the lack of access to land and housing for the poor who have moved into the urban centres in large numbers in search of employment and economic survival. Many programmes and strategies have been introduced by both central and local governments to address this problem but only limited success has been achieved to date.
Strategies And Programmes Adopted To Make Land And Housing Accessible And Affordable For The Low Income:
In order to provide adequate, Land and Housing, safe and sanitary shelter for all, the Government of Botswana has embarked on some strategies and programmes with the main thrust being for the low income segment of the population. The main significant of these are the following:‐
I) Public Housing Programme
II) Site and Service and Self Help programmes
III) Accelerated Land and Housing Servicing Programme
IV) Integrated Poverty and Housing Programme
V) Involvement of the Private Sector through PPP.
Public Housing Programme:
The BHC. In order to meet the nations’ need for housing the government established the Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) in 1970, and the adoption in 1973 of self‐help solutions managed by Self‐Help Housing Agencies (SHHA). The BHC was established as a parastatal organisation, mainly to provide housing for rent or sale for government, local authorities and for individuals. At first, its main mandate was to cater for the low segment of urban households, but with time this was slowly neglected following market changes.
Site and Services/Squatter Upgrading/The Self Help Housing Programme:
With fast urbanisation, emerged squatting by the low income workers who moved to the urban areas soon after independence to access shelter. Most of this was in Gaborone(Old Naledi), Francistown(Somerset North and South, Monarch etc) and Selebi Phikwe. Government was quick to act by adopting the World Bank model and introduce a site and services and squatter upgrading programme based on self help basis and today, Botswana boasts of having little incidence of squatting as any new emergence of squatting is quickly dealt with by demolitions and stiff penalties for defaulters.
Integrated Poverty Alleviation and Housing Schemes For Land and Housing:
This scheme is meant to cater for those not covered under the Self Help Housing Agency (SHHA) arrangement and was to be implemented in rural areas only. When the White Paper on the National Housing Policy came out in 2000, it recommended that the scheme has to be implemented in both rural and urban areas. Implementation of this scheme in both settings is meant to address the poverty problems experienced in the country and to give poverty policies and programmes a national focus. The scheme’s main thrust is on the integration of skills acquisition, employment creation and income generation with shelter provision.
Accelerated Land and Housing Servicing Programme:
As indicated earlier, Government policy towards urban residential land and housing is that it has to be serviced before allocation. Though noval and avoids the pitfalls of many municipalities’ problems in the African continent. It is a major challenge to meet such an objective.
Conclusion:
From the above, it can safely be said that the government of Botswana has done a lot in ensuring provision and access to urban housing through appropriate urban, land and housing policies and programmes. Positive steps too, have been taken to ensure that the low income segments of the urban population can access land and houses through the site and services/squatter upgrading programme, state mass housing through the BHC and the Accelerated Land servicing Programme that has provided land across the urban areas. However, as urbanisation keeps rising, the housing crisis will intensify and the demand for housing will be even greater.
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