Uganda Needs 300,000 Homes a Year. It Builds Just 60,000

Buying land can be only the first hurdle for a young Ugandan hoping to own a home. Raising the money to build on it remains another, housing leaders warned at a national dialogue in Kampala. The scale of that challenge is stark: Uganda needs about 300,000 homes a year to narrow its housing shortage, but produces only about 60,000, Lands, Housing and Urban Development Minister Judith Nabakooba said.

Speaking at the National Housing Dialogue at Hotel Africana on Monday, Nabakooba urged developers to invest more in low-cost homes and construction methods that bring down costs, according to Nile Post Uganda (direct). Organised by Habitat for Humanity Uganda, the meeting focused on a housing deficit estimated at 2.4 million units. The minister said adding homes was not enough if ordinary households could not afford them.

The financing hurdle

Nabakooba identified high mortgage interest rates and short repayment periods as barriers to ownership. Mortgages are loans used to buy homes. She challenged banks to design products around the earnings of young people and households with irregular incomes, contrasting repayment periods of seven or nine years with terms of 15 or 20 years. The government is working with the finance ministry and banks to explore lower interest rates and longer repayment schedules, she said.

Nabakooba said housing would remain beyond many families’ reach unless the finance needed to buy it became affordable and accessible.

Habitat for Humanity Uganda Managing Director Paul Okiring proposed expanding housing microfinance—smaller loans for housing needs—alongside savings groups and housing cooperatives. These could support loans that let families build in stages. Pooled savings could serve as collateral, or security for a loan, helping group members obtain affordable credit from financial institutions, he said.

The organisation’s board chairman, Robert Waggwa Nsibirwa, put young landowners at the centre of the discussion. Securing a plot does not necessarily leave them with enough resources to start construction, he said. He urged banks, pension funds, developers and other investors to create products for young people and low-income earners, describing the housing shortage as a potential business opportunity for providers of affordable homes.

Land access and the next steps

Finance is not the only obstacle. Okiring said uncertain or unregistered land rights and lengthy ownership procedures prevent many Ugandans from investing confidently in housing. He called for systematic registration and titling, digital land administration, stronger protection of women’s land rights and clearer legal tenure in informal settlements. He also urged investment in land equipped with services around fast-growing urban centres.

Okiring said population growth and urban expansion were moving faster than efforts to improve housing access. Nabakooba argued that new housing must be linked to planning and infrastructure, including roads, water, sanitation and electricity. Lower prices must not come at the expense of safety, durability or dignity, she said.

The next test is whether the dialogue produces action. Habitat for Humanity Uganda Programs Director Evelyn Frances Aguti called for a review of existing housing policies and programmes and concrete commitments from participants. Nsibirwa proposed an online platform to share policies, technologies and financing models, alongside quarterly workshops tackling specific problems. Those proposals, and the government’s discussions with lenders, are the steps to watch.