The Minister of Lands and Housing Prince Maele says he directed Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) to modify and re-introduce the Tenant Purchase Scheme effective August 1st, 2016. “I made this decision after realizing that the scheme could offer an alternative vehicle through which we could facilitate and promote affordable home ownership by enabling Batswana currently leasing BHC houses to purchase the houses on relaxed installment terms over a maximum repayment period of 25 years”.
According to Maele, his ministry is committed to ensuring that many Batswana have access to affordable housing, adding that they have observed lack of finance and few integrated policies as the main hindrances to home ownership.
“As the Minister responsible for housing, I find it imperative that as we actively build more houses through other government housing initiatives such as Self Help Housing Agency (SHHA) Turnkey, Public Officer Housing Initiative (POHI), Installment Purchase Scheme (IPS), Youth housing and District Housing. Housing the poor in particular is a very complex exercise and the complexity of easing access to housing and housing development means that more efforts and major initiatives are required from all stakeholders for the nation to succeed in this endeavor. Not only do we need to look at a wide range of national and local policies and regulatory constraints, we also have to amend programmes, mobilize large amounts of capital, and create support systems and financial incentives to assist the poor,” said Maele.
Implementation of the TPS will be administered by the Botswana Housing Cooperation and requires a compulsory credit life insurance to cover the loan of the purchaser. This is essentially meant to ensure that if something happens to the home purchaser, the beneficiaries would not lose the house. The Botswana Housing Corporation also intends to conduct countrywide campaigns that will aid in sensitising Batswana about the reintroduced TPS and how it can benefit them.
Maele also encouraged Batswana to take advantage of Government aiding initiatives such as SHAA Turnkey, Youth Housing, IPS, District Housing and POHI. “Obviously there is not enough housing for Batswana as evidenced by the escalating demand for housing. We are however determined as Government to provide housing for Batswana through the many initiatives which we are all familiar with,” he said.
Since inception in 1986, the ‘Tenant Purchase Scheme’ has faced numerous challenges due to poor record keeping and administration challenges.
