Farai Mabeza
PAN-AFRICAN housing finance institution, Shelter Afrique, approved a total of US$20m for Zimbabwean housing finance providers during the year, managing director Andrew Chimphondah has said.
Chimpondah told the media at the opening of Shelter Afrique’s Centre of Excellence Masterclass Zimbabwe Chapter that the money would be used to provide affordable mortgage finance.
“In 2019, we approved at least US$20 million to institutions that are local; CABS, CBZ. That is just on the demand side to enable them to roll out mortgage loans,” he said.
Shelter Afrique was established in 1982 by African governments, the African Development Bank (AfDB), African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa-Re) and CDC (UK’s Development Finance Institution) with the mandate of mobilizing resources for housing development in Africa.
“We began operations in 1985 and since then have developed a robust portfolio of projects and activities, acquired substantial operational experience and established Shelter Afrique as a credible housing finance institution,” according to a statement from Shelter Afrique.
Shelter Afrique’s current shareholders include 44 member countries, categorised as ‘Class A’ shareholders including AfDB and Africa-Re who are ‘Class B’ shareholders.
Its lending partners are made up of international development finance institutions, the FMO (Dutch Development Agency), AFD (French Development Agency), and EIB (European Investment Bank), and collaborating partners are the International Union of Housing Finance, the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa, and UN-Habitat.
The organisation is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya.
Shelter Afrique signed a headquarters agreement with the Kenyan government granting the organisation certain privileges, and immunities, including seizure of assets, tax exemptions and exchange controls.
The company’s activities have been funded mainly from equity resources and medium term borrowings.
