RAMBASSUN (SANDEEP) SEWPAL
Chartered Architect, Principal at Sandeep Sewpal Architect
In 2013, some 9,000 families were on the waiting list of the National Housing Development Company (NHDC). By 2021, more than 27,000 families have registered their interest to obtain a housing unit from the NHDC. Yet, the New Social Living Development Ltd (NSLD) intends to build only 12,000 housing units by 2024 with a budget of Rs. 12 Billion. On the other side, the NHDC intends to complete the construction of 3,000 housing units by 2024. At the time that the programme of the NSLD was announced by the government, the construction of 12,000 houses with a budget of Rs. 12 Billion was most probably feasible. But now that the cost of construction materials has increased by almost 40% since 2021 with no decline of construction costs in sight, would the programme of the construction of 12,000 houses be still feasible? At a time of financial stringency due to COVID-19 pandemic, how do we balance financial stability and housing affordability when we already know that rapidly-rising house prices are usually coupled with rising household indebtedness? What policies will the government bring to keep construction costs low? Even if the NHDC and the NLSD manage to complete the construction of some 15,000 houses by 2024, some 12,000 families will still be on the waiting list. How do we solve this imbalance?
Exceptional times call for exceptional measures. Seeing the end of the Second World War coming, Winston Churchill in his “Our Greatest Effort is Coming” speech of the 26th March 1944 broadcasted on the BBC declared a new war, but this time on poor housing and elaborated his strategies in these words, ‘’The first attack must evidently be made upon houses which are damaged, but which can be reconditioned into proper dwellings … The second attack on the housing problem will be made by what are called the prefabricated, or emergency, houses. On this the Minister of Works, Lord Portal, is working wonders. I hope we may make up to half a million of these, and for this purpose not only plans but actual preparations are being made during the war on a nationwide scale. Factories have been assigned, the necessary set-up is being made ready, materials are being earmarked as far as possible, the most convenient sites will be chosen, the whole business is to be treated as a military evolution handled by the government with private industry harnessed to its service.’’ The plan was to build 500,000 temporary houses as soon as the war ended. However, some 300,000 prefabricated houses were built in the UK between 1945 and 1949. The Arcon Bungalow, the Uni-Seco, the Tarran Bungalow and the Aluminium Temporary Bungalow were among the four main prefab types produced for rent under the aegis of the 1944 Temporary Housing Programme. The prefab houses contained indoor toilets and bathing facilities which were considered luxury at the time. Churchill’s ambitious housing plan was made possible by the setting up of research institutes by the Ministry of Works to develop new housing typologies.
Living in the time of COVID-19 and climate change, the government should provide a new impetus to improve housing in Mauritius. The number of refugees attending evacuation centers during cyclones Batsirai and Emnati was noted with alarm. Is there a government programme to re-settle people from high-risk areas to safer grounds? Will housing become a national responsibility? The most effective solution to tackle the problem of squatters and vulnerable groups in housing distress would be to introduce a transitional housing programme (or temporary housing programme) as advocated by Père Gérard Mongelard. A transitional housing programme provides a temporary accommodation, in the form of prefabricated or emergency houses to families who are experiencing homelessness or who are in urgent need of housing. The government should seriously consider a transitional housing programme where serviced lots could be leased to hard working poor families for the construction of their prefabricated houses which could either be sponsored by the private sector or provided by the government. For any housing programme to be successfully implemented, it is of high importance to set up a national research institute. Since the 1950s, Mauritius had a perpetual housing shortage and this housing crisis will not end until the government invest in research and education programs.