The role of low-income urban housing delivery schemes in curbing the housing problem in the city of Mutare, Zimbabwe

One of the main challenges of the developing countries is that of providing adequate housing to its residents. In these developing countries, millions of people live in squalid conditions, shacks, backyard structures and sub-standard housing. This situation reflects a mismatch between housing demand and supply. Through interviews, questionnaires and field observation it was established that although various housing delivery schemes have been implemented by local authorities, housing co-operatives, employers and donors, they have yielded little in alleviating the housing problem. They have not succeeded in alleviating the housing problem especially among the urban poor. Worse still, there is much deterioration of the existing ones mainly inhabited by the low income population. The efforts by the Local Authority and other stakeholders have been met by major challenges which include; rapid urbanization, lack of adequate finance, acute shortage of virgin and surveyed land, harsh economic conditions and in-affordability by the housing applicants themselves. This study recommends the adoption of vertical housing development to overcome the major setback of land, injection of more finance and to deal with the income problem so as to surmount the non-affordability of housing by the majority of the low income population. Further stakeholder engagement and involvement will guarantee continuous learning and adapting of housing delivery schemes on the back of fundamental institutional changes. It concludes by strongly emphasizing that although the housing problem has to be dealt with quantitatively, we must not totally forget the qualitative dimension.