By ANDREW MUKOMA
ZAMBIA Homeless and Poor People’s Federation (ZHPPF) is concerned that housing for vulnerable group’s in society has for a long time not been prioritized by governments both past and present.
Federation National Facilitator Fumbelo Chinyama has said that homelessness was a growing problem in Zambia with varying socioeconomic impacts such as rising urban poverty, poor health and sanitation.
Ms Chinyama disclosed that according to the new national housing policy, the housing deficit in Zambia is estimated at 1.5 million and it is further projected that by 2030 the figure will rise to three million if nothing is done to address the problem.
She said that the main driving factor of the rising housing deficit has been a lack of investment in decent and affordable shelter.
Ms Chinyama was speaking during a meeting in Dambwa North attended by Freedom Wars Councilor Lackson Mumba.
She added that the situation was so because of the inadequate budgetary allocations over the years.
“The 1996 national housing policy recommended 15% of national budget to be committed to housing. However, this has never been achieved with the highest allocation not surpassing 6%,” she said.
“With the new dawn government in place, the grassroot had hoped that the 2022 national budget would be the beginning of a new chapter by allocating significant resources to go towards housing particularly for the development of low -cost housing units….this however, is not the case,” Ms Chinyama said.
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