Online Reporter
Remember Deketeke
Municipal Correspondent
HARARE’S housing waiting list has doubled to 300 000 in a decade, while the city council delivered just 3 897 housing units over the same period, highlighting the capital’s deepening housing crisis.
The figures, contained in the proposed Harare Masterplan 2024-2045, reveal a widening gap between demand for formal housing and the city’s capacity to provide new homes.
They also raise concerns over how Harare will accommodate its growing population as demand for residential land and housing continues to surge.
The masterplan describes the gap between housing demand and supply as a “huge mismatch”, noting that council housing delivery has remained erratic and limited.
“The housing waiting list in the city has been growing, against an erratic and limited council housing supply,” the document reads.
“There is an increase in people registering on the waiting list against council-delivered houses for high-, medium- and low-density stands.
“There is a huge variance between housing delivery and the number of people in the waiting list.”
According to the masterplan, Harare’s housing waiting list stood at 150 855 in 2014 before increasing to 171 303 in 2015 and 190 752 in 2016.
It rose to 210 046 in 2017 and 216 502 in 2018, before climbing to 224 003 in 2019.
The number of registered homeseekers continued rising despite the Covid-19 pandemic, reaching 230 133 in 2020 and 239 228 in 2021.
By 2022, the waiting list had grown to 254 265, before jumping to 281 563 in 2023.
It reached a record 300 000 in 2024, nearly double the number recorded a decade earlier.
Against that demand, the council managed to deliver only 3 897 housing units between 2014 and 2024, underscoring the scale of the supply deficit confronting the capital.
The figures suggest that without a significant acceleration in housing development and provision of serviced residential land, the gap between demand and formal supply could continue widening as Harare expands.
