Mauritius has recently started its ambitious project of 8,000 housing units, to be completed and delivered in 18 months. However, demand for housing in Mauritius is already outstripping supply, and the country will need over 30,000 new homes by 2025 according to the number of applications received by the National Housing Development Company (NHDC). In order to meet expected demand, the New Social Living Development Ltd (NSLD) will need to build 22,000 more homes. This is due to an overall decline in housing construction over the last 15 years. The Office of Public Sector Governance (OSPG) report of 2013 showed that NHDC was not building enough social/affordable housing. This has driven many households to private, temporary rentals, which often have high rentals and poor living conditions. How to bridge the supply and demand gap when there is no transitional housing programme or proper housing policies in place? There is an urgent need for Mauritius to reform its schemes and consider bringing back social housing policies.
What is Social Housing?
The term ‘social housing’ is familiar but its concept is not well defined in public policies or not defined at all in our legislations. The idea behind social housing is to ensure that it is affordable, secure and of a decent living quality. It should be cheaper than privately owned accommodations and should offer long term tenancy options, giving the opportunity to a household to settle and make it a home, in comparison to privately rented homes which are usually on a 2-3 years tenancy basis. Social housing should not be of low quality or highly overpriced. Social housing should provide a household the peace of mind of not being evicted since the consequence of an eviction is homelessness. Social housing should be truly affordable, be allocated on the basis of need and offer a long term solution.
What is causing the Housing Crisis in Mauritius?
Fundamentally, it is caused by a lack of affordable housing and options for stable homes. But there are multiple factors that are contributing to the lack of affordable housing that increases the need for social housing. These reasons are:
- Construction costs are rising: Construction cost of a NHDC housing unit in 1994 was Rs 3,340/m2 compared to Rs 14,000/m2 in 2013 and Rs 48,000/m2 in 2023. In 2013, the average salary was around Rs. 6,000 and the minimum wage is approximately Rs. 12,000 in 2023. The cost of housing construction has trebled in the last ten (10) years whereas the average wage has only doubled, making it more difficult for people to afford home ownership than it has been previously.
- Private rentals are expensive: Private rentals are expensive and unstable with the constant worry of eviction and relatively short-term tenancy agreements. If private rentals were not expensive, there would not be an increasing demand for housing.
- Homelessness is on the rise: The result of the above is that many people are being forced out of their homes altogether. These people can end up sleeping on the street.
If the Mauritian government does not deal with these factors immediately, the situation will worsen and continue to decline and social housing will become more necessary. The only way to alleviate the housing pressure is to increase the supply of subsidised housing.
What are Living Standards?
The primary cause of the housing crisis is due to a lack of affordable housing. However, the purpose of providing social housing is not merely to provide a roof above someone’s head but also to deal with living standards and space. Space is what gives us the opportunity to relax, cook, sleep and socialise in comfort. It is central to human’s idea of well-being and belonging. In an article published in the Forum page of Le Mauricien on 18 July 2022, I stressed on the need to have Technical Housing Standards. The aim of these standards was to ensure that everyone had access to a clean and spacious space to call home. A space that provided more than just a roof, but that provided a space to eat, relax, socialise and sleep in comfort.
In 1994, the average size of a housing unit was 70m2. In 2013, the size was reduced to 39m2. Since 2015, the size is approximately 50m2. Instead of focussing solely on how to reduce the space that people are living in, in order to reduce costs, the government needs to focus on the effect that limited space can have on mental and physical well-being. And so the cost has to be based on more than merely financial. The Technical Housing Standards are meant to protect the most vulnerable people in our society including those on low income or disabled people. The government needs to ensure that when social housing is built and refurbished it meets a minimum standard for space to ensure mental and physical well-being. The lack of space standards leaves the door open for any housing development to be of a standard which does not reflect occupancy levels and could promote overcrowding.
Mauritius has a housing crisis. Increased construction costs and lack of policies addressing the issue of housing are making it harder than ever to own a home, leaving thousands more people without a home. The government needs to do more to ensure that those who are the most vulnerable in society are protected and more social housing with good space standards are built to bridge the gap between demand and supply. I sincerely hope this time that the government will commit to their ambitions and deliver the goods; otherwise, it will be another snub by men who are not able to keep their promises to the population!