Anna Muller (left) director of SDI support NGO in Namibia (NHAG) at Namibia’s “Public Forum on Namibia’s Urban Future” where Sophie Shaningwa, Minister of Urban and Rural Development (right), and a longstanding friend of the Namibia Federation gave the keynote address. The main thrust of her speech resonated strongly with the SDI network. She suggested the broadening of the definition of housing from merely something that is bought through established financing mechanisms to a broad array of housing opportunities. These can range from secured land tenure with government support for incremental housing investment, housing for special needs, informal settlement upgrading, densification of existing plots and under-utilised inner city lots of land to targeted interventions for social and rental housing.
