Staff Reporter
PROGRESS towards the provision of adequate housing in the country has been delayed by a lack of up-to-date, accurate housing statistics, which makes it difficult to assess, plan and effectively address housing needs.
This was highlighted by the Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Erastus Uutoni, at the launch of the Namibian Housing Information System (NHIS). The NHIS is a web-based housing information system that was developed by his ministry in collaboration with the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), with the support of the National Planning Commission (NPC).
“The launching of this project is an important milestone not only to the ministry, but to the country at large as it will allow for better information decisions and interventions on housing,” Uutoni said.
The minister said that the system will present a clear and accurate image of the demand, supply and budget required to address housing needs in the country. This, he said, will make it easier to plan for housing provision objectives and will likely be useful to all ministries.
According to the ministry’s Executive Director (ED), Nghidinua Daniel, the development of the NHIS started with the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation between the ministry and the NSA in 2016. The initiative, he added, was developed in response to a national need for a central repository of real-time, reliable data on housing and related developmental imperatives.
“The system, in a summary, will provide an accessible resource of all houses constructed through various initiatives through a single and centrally-managed platform. The system will contain housing needs information per locality so we are able to see what is happening in each of the various localities in the country. The system will, above all, help implementors and policy-makers to track the implementation of land and housing-related initiatives. And, without any doubt, the system will serve as a planning tool for housing development as well as policy formulation in the country,” the ED explained.
NSA’s Statistician General, Alex Shimuafeni, said the system will mostly operate on an automatic basis by collecting data from other institutions and stakeholders involved in updating housing data in the country. He added that the automation of the system will also reduce human errors, duplication of data and human capital.
The NHIS will eventually be publicly available and operate on a pilot basis for a year. The operation of the system will be overseen by the NSA.
