(GIN) – The cry for affordable housing can be heard from coast to coast in US cities but it’s hardly a match for the impending crisis in Africa where the movement of people from rural areas to urban cities has experts warning that hundreds of millions of people will be seeking affordable shelter in a decade or less.
“Young Africa has a problem,” confessed James Mugerwa, former managing director of Shelter Afrique, a pan-African finance institution that supports the development of affordable housing and real estate in Africa, adding that time is running out.
Housing construction has fallen far behind Africa’s exploding population, according to UN-Habitat. By 2035, Nigeria will have 174 million people, the Democratic Republic of Congo will have 70 million, Kenya will have 45 million and South Africa will have 40 million.
To house these growing populations, Nigeria would need to create 17 million units annually; Ghana would need 170,000 new housing units every year over the next 10 years, and Kenya would need two million homes.
“All these statistics and numbers have a very real and clear implication for housing and they paint a very simple picture,” said Mugerwa. “On the one hand you have a young and vibrant workforce coming into its own against the backdrop of too few houses, on the other hand you have droves of new city dwellers who cannot afford or find decent affordable housing, creating new slums.”
Unfortunately, Shelter Afrique has had major administrative difficulties. The group’s website lists 64 projects cancelled or stalled including a university students’ youth hostel in Nigeria, while construction loans were made for shopping malls, villas, luxury developments and other high-end developments. An independent forensic audit by the multinational firm Deloitte found loans not being repaid, properties incorrectly valued and conflicts of interest. Kenya’s Standard Media was more blunt. Evidence was found that books were cooked and staff was harassed, they said.
Mr. Mugerwa was forced out two and a half years before his contract was due to expire.
This month, Shelter Afrique received a cash injection from the African Development Bank of $20 million in addition to $8.2 million approved recently. At a meeting last month of the 44 African country members of Shelter Afrique, shareholders pledged to pay up their share capital commitments of about $116 million by the end of 2017 or face temporary suspension from the group.
Meanwhile, affordable housing for all still remains firmly on the agenda of the African Development Bank and is one of the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals. “Making cities safe and sustainable means ensuring access to safe and affordable housing and upgrading slum settlements, reads Goal 11. “It also involves investment in public transport, creating green public spaces, and improving urban planning and management in a way that is both participatory and inclusive.” w/pix of informal housing in Ethiopia
