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Tutaleni Housing Project

Tutaleni (Oshiwambo: let’s watch) is an informal settlement on the northern outskirts of Walvis Bay, Erongo, Namibia. Popularly known by locals as the Tutaleni village or simply Tuta, it is home to about 1000 families living on 1200 plots measuring 300 sq.m each. The project is an initiative of the Walvis Bay municipality in its efforts to reduce the negative effects of a high number of shacks in the coastal town. A cement floor, toilet and kitchen sink are readily found on the plot, occupants are then free to complete their house structures with certain permitted building material. Residents of the settlement have access to clean water, power, waste removal and other basic municipal services. <a>href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-projects/drivers_urb_change/urb_infrastructure/pdf_public_private_services/BestPractice_Relocation_Tenants_walvis_Bay.pdf" Best Practice, Relocation Tenants-Walvis Bay</a>

HISTORY

When Namibia won the Namibian War of Independence (which lasted for 12 years) and finally got it’s independence on March 1, 1990, Walvis bay remained under the control of the South African colonial regime. This meant Namibians could only enter Walvis Bay if they had a passport and special permit. It was not until 1994 when Namibia finally annexed the coastal town. http://www.africanexecutive.com/modules/magazine/articles.php?article=2317 T his meant people from all parts of the country could now freely move to and from Walvis Bay. The coastal town with its fishing industry and harbor was now one of the country’s biggest business hubs. This attracted many job seekers from all parts of the country, especially the northern parts, most of whom found employment almost instantly. Family members of workers also moved there to be closer to their relatives who worked in Walvis Bay, most of who resided in the Kuisebmond suburb. http://www.newera.com.na/article.php?articleid=1409 This urbanization trend caused a shortage of houses and lead to the mushrooming of shacks. According to the Best Practices Database, in 1998 there were up to 13 shacks on a single plot, and a total of 13 287 shacks accommodating roughly 8 253 could be found in Kuisebmond. This phenomena resulted in problems such as overcrowding, spreading of chronic diseases like tuberculosis and unhygienic living conditions. In its efforts to curb this problem, The Walvis Bay Municipality came up with a plan aimed at relocating “shack dwellers” to a hygienic and affordable settlement in 2000. In this plan the municipality availed block erf 3007 to be divided into 289 plots, each of which was to be no smaller than 300 sq.m as prescribed by National legislation. The idea was that the Tutaleni village would remain the property of the Walvis bay municipality and that residents will simply just rent out the plots at a mere 10 U$ per month. A Technical subcommittee and an Administrative subcommittee made up the Tutaleni Relocation steering committee, which consists of members of the community and was setup to oversee the implementation and management of the housing project. This was the birth of the Tutaleni housing project. The US$ 1588 000 project took about 3 years to complete and the first residents moved in early 2001. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-projects/drivers_urb_change/urb_infrastructure/pdf_public_private_services/BestPractice_Relocation_Tenants_walvis_Bay.pdf

Achievements

Affordable housing

The town is surrounded by the Namib Desert and land is thus scarce, this coupled with a high demand for land due to urbanization has caused the price of land to be high. Residential property in Walvis Bay like in any other urban town is thus very expensive and unaffordable to most middle class families. http://www.nampower.com.na/docs/media/Appendix%208%20-%20Socio-economic%20Report.pdf According to fnb price index the price of a 2 bedroom house with an open plan kitchen and toilet in Kuisebmond ranges between 330 000 to 508 000. http://www.privateproperty.co.na/walvis-bay-property/769.htm?gclid=CPCtiK_t5rICFYqV3godIVoAwA While the price per square meter to buy an apartment outside the city center is between 6999.58 to 7249.79 and the cost of monthly utilities such as water, electricity and refuse removal is between 1499.91 to 1749.96. http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/city_result.jsp?country=Namibia&city=Walvis+Bay Admist Walvis Bay’s high cost of living, the municipality has through the Tutaleni housing project managed to provide residents with affordable housing. Residents pay a mere N$140 for rent making it an affordable solution for even the underemployed residents. The fact that families may use cheap nonconventional building material also comes in handy.

Dubai International best practice award

The Dubai Government and the United Arab Emirates created the award to promote and reward towns and cities that can sustainably cater for all its residents needs for shelter. The award was established in November 1995 under the directive of the late Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and is administered jointly with UN-HABITAT. http://www.dubaiaward.ae/web/page_479.aspx

In 2003 The Tutaleni Housing Project won the Best practices award and received price money of US$30 000, a trophy and a commemorative certificate. http://www.newera.com.na/article.php?articleid=1404

Improved living conditions

Before the Tutaleni village was established, the Walvis bay municipality was faced with a costly sewerage bursting problem caused by the large number of people using a single toilet. More than one sewerage pipe would often burst at the same time and thus waste water would sometimes be flooding the streets for several days. Conditions were extremely unhygienic as sewarage water is a breeding place for bacteria and diseases like Cholera. Contagious diseases such as Tuberculoses also spread fast among the highly dense shacks. http://www.informante.web.na/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9692:another-sinkhole-closes-walvis-bay-traffic-artery&catid=1:coastal&Itemid=103 In addition, shack dwellers faced a fire hazard as their shacks were very close to each other and sometimes conjoined. http://www.namibian.com.na/index.php?id=28&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=38330&no_cache=1

 The housing project has greatly reduced and in a sense almost completely solved all these problems. Residents also now have access to clean water, electricity, indoor toilets with shower and basin, and refuse bins.  Protection from fire hazards was also ensured by leaving a space of atleast 5 metres between erfs, this prevented fires from spreading easily and left enough space to move easily during emergency situations. 

Challenges

Conflict over plot ownership

There has been ongoing disagreements between the Municipality and residents, about ownership of plots which remains unresolved to date. The municipality wants to remain the sole owner of the property to ensure a place to stay for people who can not afford a house. The idea is that residents remain tenants for as long as they like but they are encouraged to give up their plots when they find other decent accommodation that they can afford. Residents then have to provide proof of the amount they spend on building material and the Municipality will gladly refund them. However, residents claim that they were not informed of this and that they would like to buy off “their” property. Residents claim that they got the plots on an ownership contract and not a lease contract, they demonstrated during the last Local Authority elections and threatened to boycott them if they were not allowed to buy their plots. The residents have since had several meetings to try to find a solution that will satisfy both parties. http://www.namibiansun.com/node/5446

Contravention of contract clauses

Clause number five of the contract prohibits tenants to sublet their units, however it has emerged that some tenants have broken this clause. Another issue is that of some tenants making money off shacks they have build around their units and are in this way defeating the project’s aim of eliminating backyard squatters. To add fuel to the fire, Residents are running businesses in the units which is also against the contract. http://allafrica.com/stories/200802280433.html