Quest For Affordable Housing In Tanzania: Conceptualization Of Feasible Technologies In The Construction Sector

The main long-term challenges for the housing sector in Tanzania have been high costs of finance and a limited supply of decent and affordable housing. Following rapid urbanization and increased demand for affordable housing and housing finance, the government has been intervening in the provision of housing, although there is limited success. Many families especially lower and lower-middle-income live in poor or unfinished houses or rent houses with little possibility of raising funds for building or buying decent homes of their own. The purpose of this study is first, to investigate the extent of affordable housing provision in Tanzania, second, to assess the existing efforts in place of providing affordable housing, and lastly, to assess innovative techniques that would be used to deliver affordable housing that best fit the construction sector. The preliminary findings indicate that apart from institutional investors and a few private developers, the majority of developers do not engage themselves in the provision of affordable housing. One of the reasons is the lack of cheap construction materials. However, it was noted that while some institutional developers have started testing different building technologies that would enable the offering of affordable housing, some few private developers have started using technologies that enabled the offering of affordable housing. On the other hand, institutions of higher learning have started testing different affordable construction materials. However, the efforts in place have yielded insignificant achievements so far. Lack of incentives/subsidies was also mentioned to pose challenges in the provision of affordable housing. This study provides a contribution to the recent discussion on affordable housing, especially in developing countries on the technologies that best fit the construction industry in Tanzania. It is also significant to the policymakers who can influence innovations in the construction industry that will assist in provision of affordable construction materials.