STAFF REPORTER
Half of people in Zimbabwe’s urban areas live in rented homes amid a serious economic meltdown, a Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVac) report shows.
According to ZIMSTAT, there are approximately 5.7 million urban residents in the country, of whom nearly 3 million rent their homes.
“At least half of people living in urban areas in the country live in rented accommodation according to the 2023 ZimVac report. Rented accommodation is an economic survival strategy especially for those who cannot afford their own homes.
“The majority of urban households (50%) were tenants and 8% were using tied accommodation,” part of the report reads.
According to the report, 76.8% of residents in rural areas owned the homes where they lived.
“Of the 34% that owned their households in urban areas, about 21% of them had title deeds to their property and 13% did not have title deeds. This just points to the bottlenecks that exist in the acquisition of title deeds by home owners in the country.
“This in turn has implications on the homeowners’ credit worthiness and access to capital,” reads part of the report.
According to ZimVac, the percentage of households with homes without title deeds increased from 8% in 2020 to 13% in 2019.
“There is a need for collaborations between ratepayers, councils and deeds office to address the aforementioned challenges.
“There is a need for the ministry responsible for National Housing and Social Amenities to accelerate programmes aimed at improving access to affordable and quality
housing.
“Focus should be on construction of new housing units and upgrading of informal settlements and the need for the private sector to complement government efforts in improving access to decent accommodation,” the report said.
Zimbabwe’s population grew by 16.2% to 15.18m from 13.1m in 2012 and the 15.18m population constituted 3 818 992 households, giving an average of four persons per household.
The 2022 National Housing and Population Census also captured data on living conditions and access to basic needs such as water and electricity.
The country’s housing backlog remained at 2m.
