Discusses the Nature of the Housing Problem in Mauritius

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House ownership is an important indicator of social well-being.  It is housing which determines the family structure and living, as well as health, sanitary and environmental conditions.  The ownership of a house represents, for most people, the investment of a lifetime and is made possible by savings and the availability of financial facilities.  In the past, the principal employers of labour provided basic housing free as part of conditions of service.  Now, over eighty per cent of families in Mauritius own the house in which they live, a remarkable feature of the society and a substantial transformation in land and property ownership within one generation.

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However, there are still many Mauritian families who have to face housing problems.  Such a situation arises basically because of two reasons: low salary and the scarcity of land.  Despite the fact that now, Mauritius is a newly industrialised country, several inhabitants such as the factory workers, labourers, and constructions workers receive too low an income to be able to match with the new standard of living in the island.  Those wages in most cases are hardly sufficient to satisfy the individual’s requirements let alone that of a whole family.  In addition, the scarcity of land nowadays is not of help to Mauritians either.

Indeed, land is a major constraint on housing development given that it has other competing uses and accounts for a high proportion of total construction costs of a dwelling unit.  Besides, since land for housing is in short supply, this has resulted in speculation about land prices with an inevitable impact on the cost of housing units.  Speculation has already caused much damage by artificially causing price hikes in the property market.  This increase has made the present housing problem situation move difficult as more Mauritians live in a nomadic style, having no land on which to build a house because they cannot afford the high cost.

Rental housing is also an important component of the housing stock, with fifteen per cent of households being currently tenant-occupiers.  Renting in Mauritius is presently governed by the Landlord and Tenants Act which, has effectively caused rentals to be frozen at the 1960 level.  With virtually no flexibility in the rents of unfurnished houses to reflect changes in property values, investment in terms of maintenance and improvement of the existing stock of rental property has considerably decreased and the landlords have preferred to shift property out of residential to commercial uses.  Due to which a greater number of Mauritians are finding themselves on the streets.  Assessing the magnitude of the housing problem in Mauritius, the government has taken a series of actions as a welfare state.

The MHC and the NHDC are two companies run by the Mauritian government: specialised in assisting financial those with housing problems.  The Mauritius Housing Company is a major source of housing finance for the low- and middle- income groups.  Also, since September 1997, the National Housing Development Company is operating its own mortgage window offering financial facilities to the low- and very low- income groups.  Moreover, commercial banks and insurance companies are providing mortgage loans though this is directed mainly towards the middle and high-income groups.

Furthermore, the government is providing housing subsidies to the Mauritians who really do not have the means to get a decent home.  Recently, a number of measures have been taken to cater for these unfortunate and under-privileged households.  Special housing programmes and schemes have been devised for families with a monthly income of less than four thousand rupees and less than three thousand rupees, with the implementation of the ‘very low-cost housing’ and the ‘shell units’ projects respectively.

In my opinion, the Mauritian government should encourage the private sector move to provide housing units through special schemes, such as the Housing Development Certificate (HDC) and new incentive for residential development.  Thus, we will eventually succeed in reducing the housing problem to a minimum in Mauritius.

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