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Clr Manyenyeni

Herald Reporter
Harare Mayor Mr Bernard Manyenyeni has challenged property developers to build low-cost houses to enable low- income earners to also own houses.

He made the remarks at the CABS and Old Mutual Housing Expo in Budiriro re- cently.

“I am appealing to Old Mutual that they now approach that bottom end of the pyramid.

“The provision of housing between $22 000 and $27 000 is good but not everybody can afford it. So we will ask them to go back to the drawing board, look for things that are below $10 000 because that is where the affordability is,” he said.

Mr Manyenyeni also urged Old Mutual to consider constructing houses for letting.

“If you ask me, housing provision is not just about ownership. I am saying move from $27 000 and $22 000 to anything less than $10 000 but we could also move into just providing accommodation on a rental basis because the dream of everyone having a house will always be a dream, there are people who must have houses provided for them,” he said.

Mr Manyenyeni said provision of housing by private players was a viable business.

“There are people who must make it a business to build houses as investments and have tenants. So all those models must be explored and exploited.”

Of the CABS Budiriro houses, 400 units have been bought so far out of 2 797.