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Finding affordable housing in the capital is an
onerous task. Unfortunately, the government is
taking steps in the wrong direction to remedy
matters.
The changes planned for the Rented Houses Agency (RHA)
not only undermine recent progress to remedy the
dismal situation, but also reflect broader problems
in the philosophy of the current administration.
Last week's passage through Parliament of a bill to
create the Government Housing Agency (GHA) as a
replacement for the RHA is a misguided attempt to
solve deep seated problems in how this city
addresses its inability to cope with a swelling
population. Like almost all legislation in recent
history, however, the bill passed the MPs easily
with a 274 to 86 vote.
This is to be expected with a fairly unified
coalition leading the country for so long and facing
little challenge from a fragmented and
under-resourced opposition. The front-page picture
on the Ethiopian Herald last Friday, which showed
almost all Parliamentarians raising hands in favour
of the bill, tells the story of an uninteresting
legislative branch that offers little constructive
debate or challenges to the EPRDF ideology.
What little resistance was raised to the bill was
fairly small-minded in scope. Rather than
emphasising the broadly troubling direction the
action signals, the dissenting MPs chose to use
catchy words to pick at the particular powers that
will be given to the new Agency.
Opposition parties, for example, challenged the
provision of the bill that grants the GHA the
ability to evict tenants without first going to
court on the grounds that it flouts the authority of
judicial bodies and violates human rights. Evictions
based on clearly established rules and regulations
should indeed be basic matters and not requiring
court attention. However, the push for this
provision of power reveals much more deeply
entrenched problems in the justice system and the
RHA.
First, the over 1,000 cases in which the Agency is
attempting to collect around 120 million Br in
unpaid rent is evidence that the judicial system is
backlogged and unable to deliver swift decisions on
what should be elementary issues. The cases, some of
which go on for years, lead to resources being
wasted on arbitration while tenants often remain in
the government housing without paying rent.
While this is a sad situation, it would be even more
inexcusable in the future, when evicted tenants will
have to find alternate lodging for years as they
wait for a judgement. This could create a very
dangerous level of power for officials who realise
the weight of an eviction notice to a leaser who
feels unconfident of the judiciary's power to dole
out justice.
Secondly, the huge amount of money lost in revenue
signals that the Agency has a relatively low
capacity to administer its some 16,000 properties.
RHA recently opened a tender to count the houses
under its control and suffers from numerous unlawful
transfers where supposed residents or secondary
leasers open businesses. These individuals could be
renting lawfully from the private sector, adding to
economic activity and tax revenue.
But such are the woes when officials attempt to
administer an overly centralised system that is much
better left to the profit motivated private sector.
And here is the catch; the government is scrambling
in courts and the legislative branch to remedy
problems in its housing provision while private
companies reap huge profits in the real estate
sector and are surly hungry for some of the
properties under government control.
With masses of low and middle income earners falling
outside of the housing provided there is a need for
government intervention as is common in most
countries. Rents that have been skyrocketing at a
70pc rate over the past seven years are quickly
becoming unaffordable to many. However, this regime
is going about finding the remedy in the wrong way,
reflecting a deep-seated reluctance to take action
for all its privatisation talk.
It is troubling to see the Houses Agency struggle to
collect rents of around 200 Br for properties along
Africa Avenue (Bole Road) while next door high rise
buildings rapidly develop the area into an
international standard retail centre with
corresponding hefty prices.
What is stopping the government from selling off
some of the properties in areas that fetch huge
prices and building low-cost housing in low-cost
areas? Of course building takes a long time to solve
a pressing problem and more would be needed from the
stressed transportation system. But large sales
could provide revenue for infrastructure expansion.
The condominium constructions visible in many parts
of town are commendable though behind schedule as
usually happens with ambitious centrally planned
projects.
Here the private sector has the flexibility to come
to the scene with promises of enhanced haste. The
incentive packages offered to developers to create
low cost housing have hitherto been ineffective as
seen in results. This should be strengthened with
lease free grants to those willing to supply the
newly developing middle class that represents a huge
untapped future market if economic growth continues.
It is sad to see the current direction the
government is taking though as it plans to expand,
not reduce, the properties under its control. This
is especially troubling as it goes against previous
plans to liquidate the Rented Houses Agency's assets
by undertaking new public real estate projects.
More public housing provided by an inefficient
Agency when incentive packages should be offered to
give the job of providing low cost housing to the
private sector; this is what the opposition should
criticise. |
