Uganda, April 25 -- In 2016, the Uganda National Housing Policy was adopted, it took stock of the available housing as well as the deficit.

It estimated the total housing deficit of over 1.7 million housing units - both in rural and urban areas. It attributed the huge housing deficit to the slow rate of construction of housing units at 60, 000 units compared to the national annual need of 200,000 units; the low purchasing power for the majority of the households due to the high poverty levels; inadequate supply of affordable building materials on the market coupled with their high prices and the divestiture of government from the provision of housing.

Relatedly, the NRM manifesto 2021 - 2026 explicitly acknowledges that the high cost of...