Staff Reporter
ACCORDING to the Namibia Housing Information System, the country currently has a total of 563 informal settlements and over 200,000 housing needs applications.
This was revealed at the handover of over 57 desktop computers and 57 printers to the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development for onward distribution to local authorities across Namibia to support the implementation and operationalisation of the Namibia Housing Information System (NHIS).
This marks the second consignment of equipment support to local authorities, following the distribution of 57 Wi-Fi devices during the 2025/2026 financial year.
Statistician-General and CEO of the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), Alex Shimuafeni, explained that the NHIS provides a consolidated snapshot of the information currently reflected on the Namibia Housing Information System (NHIS).
It focuses on four operational modules: Housing Needs, Housing Stock, Land Use and Informal Settlements. The purpose is to establish a clear baseline of the variables and record counts presently available on the system, with Housing Needs presented in greater detail by region and local authority/area.
According to figures presented on 18 August 2026, the country has received a total of 200,865 Housing Needs Applications and 150,663 Housing Needs Clients, with a total of 786,365 housing stock, 341,069 Land Use Stock, 563 informal settlements, 419 undeclared informal settlements and a total of 144 declared townships with informality.
“As stated in the Namibia Informal Settlements Baseline Report, it contains 563 settlements exhibiting some level of informality. For reporting purposes, the 563 are separated between undeclared informal settlements and established/declared townships that continue to exhibit some degree of informality,” Shimuafeni explained.
He added that the Namibia Statistics Agency recognises that quality data is fundamental to evidence-based decision-making.
“Without timely, accurate and reliable information on housing, land, households, settlements and related infrastructure, it becomes difficult for government to effectively plan, allocate resources, monitor development programmes and respond to the housing needs of our communities. The NHIS provides an important platform to address this challenge. It is intended to strengthen the availability and accessibility of standardised housing-related statistics across the country and to support policy and decision-makers at national, regional and local authority levels. With the NHIS system, once fully updated by capturing the data from all local authorities, we can start having an official figure on the National Housing Demand or National Waiting List or the National Housing Backlog,” Shimuafeni said.
Picture for illustrative purposes only. Photo: MissionsHub
