The Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Judith Nabakooba, has called for greater use of housing cooperatives and SACCOs as a way of making home ownership more affordable for Ugandans.Nabakooba said community-based housing models could help address Uganda’s estimated housing deficit of about 2.4 million units while also contributing to economic growth.
She made the remarks while representing President Yoweri Museveni during celebrations marking 20 years of Akright City.The minister said low-income earners could pool resources through SACCOs and housing cooperatives to improve their ability to finance and acquire decent homes.“If low-income earners can organise themselves into SACCOs and Housing Cooperatives, it is another area where the government can invest to grow our economy and address the housing deficit, which stands at approximately 2.4 million housing units,” Nabakooba said.She noted that rapid urbanisation, population growth and rising property prices have continued to make affordable housing a major challenge, particularly in Uganda’s urban centres.According to Nabakooba, housing should not only be treated as a social need but also as an important driver of economic development.She said investment in housing has strong connections with construction, manufacturing and employment, creating opportunities across several sectors of the economy.“Housing has multisectoral forward and backward linkages that should help us in the fight against urban poverty and in increasing the capacity of our construction industries,” she said.
Nabakooba also pointed to the growth of local manufacturing as an opportunity to reduce construction costs.She said Uganda is increasingly producing building materials such as steel, ceramics, plastics and tiles locally, reducing reliance on imported products.The minister further encouraged private developers to invest in planned residential communities targeting Uganda’s growing middle-income population.“As the economy continues to grow by leaps and bounds, I urge all players in the real estate sector to tap into the new middle-income cohort to develop more affluent neighbourhoods, thereby changing the skylines of our cities,” she said.Nabakooba also raised concerns about the long-term impact of excessive subdivision of family land through inheritance.She urged families to consider structures such as family companies to preserve property and prevent valuable developments from being fragmented into smaller plots over generations.
The minister further called for housing projects that can withstand the effects of climate change, including flooding and drought, while remaining inclusive and economically sustainable.She said achieving affordable housing will require cooperation between government, private developers, financial institutions and communities.Nabakooba stressed that decent housing is not only a basic human necessity but can also contribute significantly to employment creation, poverty reduction and Uganda’s broader economic transformation
