CAN CONTAINER HOMES HELP EASE UGANDA'S HOUSING DEFICIT?

The housing deficit is by far the greatest challenge in our real estate sector. It has been increasing at an alarming rate for the past years. This is partly due to the high construction input prices like material prices, wages which has been increasing by 0.8% year by year. This has continually suffocated the development of middle & affordable housing units which the largest percentage of population is badly in need of.

Recently, container homes being set up in Kenya caught my attention. Kenyans are turning cargo containers into well planned livable spaces. This isn't something new in Uganda but the scale at which the Kenyans are embracing these homes is amazing with new professional container home developers coming up. Container homes may not be the elixir to our housing deficit problem but may be its a solution worth considering.

Advantages

The cost of setting up a cointainer home is by far lower compared to that of building brick and mortar homes.

Container homes take a shorter time to construct. A 2 bedroom container home can take just one month to set up. This helps reduce the housing deficit at a faster rate.

Since container homes are considered to be temporary structures, one doesn't need to process any permits for such structures which helps to save money and time during construction.

Their temporary nature is another added advantage. They can easily be transported from one place to another in case the owner decides to alter his land use.

Disadvantages

There are few professional container home developers who can turn the cargo containers into well planned and livable spaces.

Its hard to get credit from financial institutions with container homes as the collateral due to their temporary nature.

The market perception is still negative. Most people consider these structures for the poor and not fit for human habitation.

The temporary nature of these structures also doubles as a disadvantage since some people prefer permanent structures.

There is also a question of safety but personally I think this ain't a big issue because only food-grade containers are used for construction. Hazardous containers are always clearly marked.

Can container homes help ease Uganda's housing deficit? Well, there is only one way to find out and that's by embracing them.