Urban Housing Policy and its Implications on the Low-Income Earners of A Harare Municipality, Zimbabwe

Domestic shelter is an important basic need in all societies. In Zimbabwe, the provision of housing has been one of the most critical issues of government social policy especially since after independence in 1980. The government is confronted with keeping pace with the demands for low income housing. To deal with these problems government introduced the Low income urban housing policy. The research highlights the fragility of the poor’s claim to the right of permanent residency emphasizing inadequate state funding and poverty. This study examines this policy and its implications on the low income earners of Zimbabwe. To complement document analysis, questionnaires will be distributed to the low-income earners and the management of the municipality. By employing combination of these two methodological approaches the aim is to obtain a holistic picture of the formulation of the policy and the envisaged implementation procedure. Results of this study would help in shaping the direction of the ongoing debate on housing in Zimbabwe. Recommendation is that policymakers need to combine information gathered through land price surveys and household surveys to provide an up to date, accurate and detailed profile of land and housing market.