MARONDERA - Homelessness continues to eat away at the hearts of the poor in Marondera who had lost hope of ever becoming landlords in their miserable lifetime. But a Harare-based organisation, Homeless People Federation, has given them new hope, by educating them on how their meagre resources can be pooled together to provide shelter. Like manna from heaven, the advice offered by the organisation was received with both hands by those who had rented accommodation from some insensitive landlords ever since they migrated to town. Shadrick Chinyama (50), a photographer, could not hide his excitement at being offered the opportunity to own his house anytime soon.
When least expected, Homeless People Federation officials landed in town one May morning this year and unveiled products too sweet to ignore. Imagine poor people organizing themselves into groups to pool their little resources towards purchasing of residential stands, where one would eventually construct a house with generous cash funding from the organisation which virtually came out of the blue.
According to the organisations game plan, each member would channel $1 per month towards a personal Federation savings account. Individual savings would be further directed into a consolidated affiliated members account.
Given the Federations good relations with government and local authorities, it would be allocated requested housing stands at reasonable prices for the benefit of homeless members. The Federation would pay cash up front for the property and beneficiaries would continue paying subscriptions or make top up payments until the full stand price is settled.
Only five months after joining the scheme and having contributed just $23, we are already told the local council would be approached January to allocate us residential stands under the Federation. What a Christmas present?
An estimated 3 500 poor and homeless people in Marondera have since joined the project. The majority of members are women drawn from across poor communities such as vendors, housewives and widows among others, said Chinyama.
Last week Saturday, Marondera Federation members converged at Nyameni Community Hall and nominated district representatives who would communicate with the head office in Harare.
Speaking at the occasion, national programmes facilitator, Charity Chinyanyi, told members; The Federation is non political and its objective is to help provide shelter to the poor and homeless. At our meetings we do not allow people to wear political party regalia or do sloganeering since we are a non-partisan humanitarian organization serving the interests of the underprivileged across the political divide.
We enjoy good relations with central government and local authorities. Various local authorities promised to provide us with land whenever the need arises after we have met our end of the bargain.
A few years ago, theministry of local government allocated the Federation more than 300 residential stands in Harare on which to build housing units. To accommodate as many members as possible, some properties were designed as shared units. Beneficiaries have since completed constructing houses on the stands. Recently, the ministry also allocated the Federation some 750 residential stands and servicing of the land will start soon.
The federation was established some five years ago. It has 115 groups from Harare, Marondera, Bindura, Mvurwi and Guruve among other towns. Marondera has seven groups composed of an average 500 members each. The groups are based at residential suburbs across town, she said.
The housing Federation concept is also popular and practiced in other African countries such as South Africa, Malawi and Kenya.
We encourage members to register with council housing waiting list by end of next month, December, as we would approach the local authority seeking allocation of at least 100 residential stands January next year, added Chinyanyi.
Besides provision of shelter, the Federation also has clusters responsible for assisting members with medical support and cash loans.
Members can access short-term loans ranging from as little as $10 to as much as one needs. Loans attract two percent interest rate. The health support cluster facility provides needy members with cash to meet medical bills, food expenses, purchase drugs and funeral requirements. A farming project will be unveiled soon to provide ailing members with free herbal drugs. Some produce would be sold to other members of community to help boost coffers of the Federation.
Representatives of Marondera-based groups, Maria Chikowore, Matafi, Jabulani Saruchera, Charles Chikawa, Tendai Mombe and Edina Masunda, concurred that the Federation project could see them turning into landlords soon.
We have confidence and hope in the project that the landlord status was within reach. The short term loan facility helped members meet pressing financial obligations without inconveniences associated with borrowing cash at astronomical interest rates, they said.
However, the loan scheme was not without its own problems. Some bad debtors have taken advantage of the generosity of the scheme, making life difficult for innocent would-be borrowers.
Marondera has an estimated 13 million people on its ever-growing waiting list. Besides providing land for residential stands to private organisations to help fight homelessness, the council plans to embark on an ambitious project to service land and allocate stands to thousands of people on its waiting list next year.
Council has an abundance of land at the Hunyani area and other outlying farms for some 15 000 housing units. The local authority would do its best to service the properties and allocate them to the needy as soon as resources permit. We are also prepared to assist private organisations and Housing Cooperatives with land at any given and appropriate time, Mayor Farai Nyandoro said.
As much as council would have loved to clear the long housing waiting list as a matter of urgency, financial resources remain a challenge. Residents believe with the coming of Homeless People Federation to town, the prospects of the poor having own shelter over their heads has become a reality.
Post published in: News