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Message: [QUOTE="Nehanda, post: 28672, member: 2262"] Bulawayo City Council just told 135 people they need to start building on their empty residential lots fast, or else. The council plans to take back these properties spread across Cowdray Park, Pumula South, and Luveve because nobody has built anything there for over two years. Town Clerk Christopher Dube wants these lot owners to visit their local housing office right away and explain why they haven't built anything yet. If they don't show up within 30 days, the council will grab those lots and give them to someone else from the waiting list. About 30 lots face repossession in the huge Cowdray Park area under the Hlalani Kuhle Housing Scheme. Another 59 empty lots might be taken away from their current owners in Luveve 4 and Pumula South combined. The council also plans to reclaim 46 more undeveloped properties in Luveve 5. These residential lots typically cost around $4,000 US dollars or the same amount in local money, according to the council website. Bulawayo faces a massive housing shortage with 130,000 people waiting for homes but has only created 30,000 housing lots during the past ten years. Ward 6 Councilor Nkosinathi Hove Mpofu feels bad about this situation. He said many people struggled hard to buy these lots in the first place. "Everyone wants to become a homeowner, and these people definitely tried their best to keep their properties," he explained. He added that buying land takes major sacrifice, and losing it must feel awful for those affected. The reasons why people haven't built on their land vary from case to case. Across Zimbabwe, about 1.5 million people need housing. The government wants to create 220,000 housing units by 2025 through its National Development Strategy 1 plan. Back in 2020, officials created the Zimbabwe National Human Settlements Policy to help fix these problems. President Mnangagwa officially launched this policy in September 2021. The plan aims to reduce differences between rural and urban areas, consider climate change issues, and make housing better overall. The country needs well-planned communities to improve business conditions and reach its Vision 2030 goal of becoming an upper-middle-income economy. [/QUOTE]

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