The property is located on the north-western outskirts of Windhoek.

Five houses are to be built here in a few months and rented to needy families.

It is the first construction phase of the non-profit project “Housing!

for Future ”, which aims to provide families from slum areas in Namibia with affordable housing.

A total of 100 houses are planned - 25 of them on the property on the outskirts.

The initiators are Nassauische Heimstätte and GWH - two public housing associations, the majority of which are owned by the State of Hesse.

Rainer Schulze

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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In the meantime, Industria Wohnen, the first private real estate company with a charitable past, has joined the donation initiative.

A total of 830,000 euros have already been collected.

The Heimstätte supports the project with 300,000 euros.

As a spokesman explains, the first 100,000 euros have already been transferred for the property.

The other tranches are to follow if demonstrable progress is made on site.

The support is included in the business plan and of course also has an impact on the operational business result.

No less apartment in Hessen

However, the project should not be at the expense of residential construction in Hesse. Social commitment is an important part of Heimstätte's corporate strategy, says Managing Director Thomas Hain. “With our participation in, Housing! for Future 'we think outside the box. ”The 100th birthday of the Heimstätte is the ideal occasion for this.

An independent company was founded for the project, which is run on a voluntary basis.

One of the managing directors is Bernd Sommer, who used to work for a large Frankfurt bank.

“We want to create affordable living space so that people can get on their feet,” he says.

Because large parts of the Namibian population live in tin huts in settlements that have grown informally - with no prospect of improvement.

Africa is a continent with huge problems and an incredible number of potential refugees, says Sommer.

"We have to work to improve living conditions." That is an additional contribution to the commitment of the home in this country.

This is not why one less apartment is being built in Hessen.

Security for the residents of the quarter

Many people in Windhoek live under inhumane conditions, and even households with a steady income hardly get home loans. There is no rental housing market with affordable rents, secure contracts and tenant protection laws, explains the initiative. If they do not want to depend on the arbitrariness of "landlords", the informal settlements are the only way out for many families. According to the initiative, of the 350,000 inhabitants of Windhoek, around 135,000 live under miserable circumstances in tin huts.

Simple houses with two or three bedrooms and 55 to 75 square meters are to be built for these people. A modular system from the company PolyCare, which comes from Thuringia and has founded a construction company in Namibia, is used. The houses are assembled from polymer concrete blocks made with desert sand. The local company Quartz Construction is building further houses in solid construction. The construction and property costs are manageable by German standards: A house costs around 50,000 euros, including the property and outdoor facilities. There should be a playground, a wall should encircle the area and provide security. The first five houses should be ready and let out by the end of the year.The tenants are to be selected with local support from churches and social agencies. The rents should not burden the residents' income by more than a third.

"Sustainable and effective help for self-help"

“We want to create the basis for sustainable and effective help for self-help on site,” says Stefan Bürger, Managing Director of GWH.

For this purpose, a local housing company is to be founded, which will act as a subsidiary of “Housing!

for Future ”takes care of the rental and management of the houses in Namibia.

Because such housing associations are not established in the West African country.

"In this way, the principle of the German social housing industry for Africa - in the first step for Namibia - is to be transformed and bear fruit there," says Bürger.

The rental income will enable the new Namibian housing company to build more houses.

So that the help arrives and the budget is adhered to, an architect is supposed to supervise the construction. A fixed price was agreed with a general contractor. There are no personnel costs in Germany: 30 employees, many of them from Heimstätte and GWH, do volunteer work. Experts from the real estate industry also participate in an advisory board. More information about the donation project is available on the Internet at

housingforfuture.de

.