The Cooperative Housing Sector in Angola

Development Workshop Angola

10 January 20171

Introduction
Angola’s National Urbanism and Housing Programme (PNHU) identified Cooperative Housing as
one of the four key strategies adopted to meet the country’s deficit of more than one million
dwelling units. The PNHU set a target for the construction of 80,000 cooperative housing units
or 8% of the planned one million dwellings in the period up to 2015. Cooperative housing in
Angola has roots that date back to colonial times when models were drawn from Portuguese
cooperative traditions. In the post independence period after 1975, urban planning professionals
returning home from training in eastern Europe, formerly socialist countries, brought back
experience of cooperative housing models from countries where they studied or visited.

The current paper discusses the housing policy environment in Angola, the basic principles of
models of cooperative housing and how the cooperative model was applied in Angola. A case
study of Angola’s largest housing cooperative is presented. The challenges of implementing this
project are discussed in the context of the evolving Angolan policy environment and the financial
constraints that were encountered.

Angolan Housing Policy

Housing has become a priority development issue in Angola in the years following the end of the
war in 2002. In 2008 the State President announced a first National Housing Development
program aimed at building one million housing units before 2015. The program aimed at
responding to the Millennium Development Goal challenge but also post-war popular demands
for housing. The National Housing Development Program aimed at engaging multi-actors in the
effort, with the state assuming 11% of the responsibility, the private sector 12%, cooperatives
8% and owner-builders taking on the major share of 68%.

An official housing policy (Resolution 60/06) was first approved in 2006 guaranteeing the
universal right to housing. The Framework Law for Housing (Law 03/07) was subsequently passed
to promote public and private housing policies through:
o the definition of new criteria of human settlement and the construction of new bairros
(neighbourhoods) and cities
o the regulation of a system of fiscal incentives
o the regulation of a system of credit for housing
o the promotion of raising public or private funds for housing
o the promotion of public or private partnerships in the field of housing
o the guarantee of urban security, access and infrastructure
o the control of urban sprawl by consolidation of the urban and rural identity of the country

1
Supported by Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSDA)
In 2007, the Government decreed the creation of state reserves for the construction of ‘new
housing complexes’, Centralidades, within the capital metropolitan region. The Law identifies
four different housing types: urban or rural houses; social houses; market-rate houses; and self-
built houses. It also proposed the creation of a Housing Development Fund2 for “all public, private
and cooperative entities that promote the construction of social houses and for citizens in
general”.

Subsequent to the legislative elections of September 2008, the government announced a plan to
build one million houses throughout the country by 2012. The National Urbanism and Housing
Programme was officially approved in 2009 through Resolution 20/09. The Programme aimed to
benefit an estimated 6,000,000 people across the country (all the government’s calculations are
based on an average of 6 persons per household).

The target of one million homes was initially broken down into:
• 115,000 dwellings - intended for the public sector
• 120,000 dwellings - intended for the private sector
• 80,000 dwellings - intended for cooperatives
• 685,000 dwellings - intended for self-built homes (265,000 rural and 420,000 urban
homes)

The Case for a Cooperative approach to Housing

Cooperative housing is usually aimed at providing affordable housing for low to moderate-
income people, but can be adapted to any range of income groups, from people living in high
quality inner city new built housing, to very poor people coming together to build houses by self
help or mutual aid3. Cooperative housing is an alternative to conventional commercial or public
housing models where projects are owned and controlled by the residents who use their services.
Cooperative housing combines most of the advantages of home ownership with the economy
and stability of large scale enterprise4. The cooperative model gives residents democratic control
of the property in which they live, giving them a greater say over the management and
maintenance than they would otherwise have as tenants. Residents also decide codes of conduct
and rules of membership. In brief, the co-operative model is based on a combination of rights
with responsibilities and a respect for mutualism.

A housing cooperative forms when individuals create a non-profit corporation to own the
building in which they live. As a member of the cooperative, individual residents hold an
ownership share in the corporation, which entitles them to a unit in the dwelling. Residents
themselves run the co-op from electing a board of directors, hiring managerial staff and setting
membership requirements. "The housing cooperative is a legal association formed for the
purpose of providing housing to its members on a continuing basis. It is owned and controlled by
its members5. Membership also requires compliance with the terms and conditions of the
cooperative. A definite capital contribution is assigned to each dwelling unit and each member
buys the shares or pays the fee placed upon the unit he selects for occupancy. The monthly

2
Fundo de Fomento Habitacional (2009)
3
CHF International – South Africa (2002) A Model for Cooperative Housing Development in South Africa
4
Yourman - (1947) Some Legal Aspects of Cooperative Housing
5
National Confederation of Co-operatives, 2004: 9 & 11; Rooftop Canada Resource Centre, s.a.: 3
charges are fixed to provide the amounts necessary to meet current operating expenses, make
the required payments on the debts of the organization. It is distinguished from other housing
models by its ownership structure". It answers some or all of the following aspects:
(1) security of land ownership or making sure that the person’s rights to live on a piece of land
is not disturbed or threatened by eviction;
(2) presence of infrastructure such as roads, transportation, water system and open spaces;
(3) construction and maintenance of houses and common areas and
(4) management of the housing facilities which have been constructed.

Different forms of housing co-operatives are situated within the respective national housing
policies and can be differentiated with respect to the sources of capital and the source of
initiative. These dimensions also effectively describe the basic orientation of co-operatives
between market housing and social housing.6 (see Annex 1 for a description of alternative
housing cooperative forms)

History of Angolan Housing Cooperatives

The colonial and post-colonial experience influenced the public attitude to cooperatives, the way
cooperatives operate, and the way external patrons such as governments and the donor
community relate with them. Though cooperatives in Africa have their origins in foreign models
that were largely designed to achieve exterior motives, they have been proposed as one of the
main forms of popular economic and social organization for the alleviation of poverty. While
cooperatives were first introduced to Africa in the colonial era, they introduced mechanisms that
could foster development, including legal frameworks, promotional schemes and funding
systems. These colonial efforts set the tone for cooperative development in Africa. The
cooperative sector thus did not emerge as a home-grown or spontaneous movement but rather
as the result of colonial social and economic engineering. Hence, right from the beginning the
cooperative sector in countries like Angola had little or no links with existing pre-colonial,
“traditional” or endogenous transaction systems in the realm of solidarity or village-customary
economic relations. Co-operativism is the result of deliberate policy-making by state authorities
that tapped into and borrowed from international experiences in cooperative development7.

In Angola as in most African countries “modern” cooperatives were introduced by the colonial
power who sought to replicate its domestic cooperative structures throughout their colonies and
protectorates8. Portugal was the second European country to recognise the importance of the
cooperatives in the law passed in the Parliament in 18679. Though the legal framework for
cooperative development in Portugal their colonies benefited from the enabling legislation on
cooperatives of 1888. Until independence in 1975 the Portuguese colonial administration applied
housing and planning laws in Angola similar to those adopted in their home territory10.

During the first Portuguese Republic (1910-1926) the political support to the cooperatives
encouraged the expansion of the sector within a generally liberal environment. By 1926, there

6
International Labour Office Geneva (2011) Promotion of cooperatives,
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc89/rep-v-1.htm
7
Patrick Develtere, Ignace Pollet & Fredrick Wanyama (2008) Cooperating out of Poverty - The renaissance of the African
cooperative movement – ILO & World Bank Institute , Geneva
8
ILO (2014) Brief History and Current Status of Cooperatives in Africa, (p.2)
9
Cf. Costa (1978) Lei Basilar, Andrade Corvo 1867. p.16
10
Carlos Nunes Silva (2014) Urban Planning in Lusophone African Countries (p.9) Farnham: Ashgate, (ISBN: 978-1-4724-4487-5)
were in Portugal 336 cooperatives (Cf. Granado, 1998: 53). However the political regime,
following the 1926 Portuguese military coup d'etat, was not favourable for cooperative
development as it negated the basic principles and values that underpin the latter namely,
freedom of association; democracy; and autonomy. The abhorrence of the New State (1926-
1974) to the cooperative sector had strong political overtones. Most cooperatives were
associated to the workers’ movement and were seen as potential spaces for the spreading of
dissident ideas that could pose a threat to the regime11. Portugal was a corporativist state with
an economic and social structure that was appended to state-based corporations; thereby
subordinating all civil society organizations, including cooperatives. Consequently, cooperative
legislation was very restrictive and foresaw a heavy intervention of the state. In Angola and
Mozambique, agricultural cooperatives were merely functional appendages of rural extension
work of semi-public agencies such as the Coffee Institute of Angola or the Cotton Institute of
Mozambique. Women make up a proportion of the membership of cooperatives, but – due to
their lack of formal schooling – were seldom appointed to posts as directors or officers. Because
of state interventionism and quasi-monopoly, only big firms were able to set up viable
cooperatives and associations. Such cooperatives were involved in export marketing or service
delivery or credit provision12.

In Portugal and its colonies, the Salazar dictatorship, gave housing policy little attention and showed
little interest in addressing urban problems. The characteristics inherent to the dictatorial regime,
were an absence of civil liberties, centralization of the State, inertia and obstacles to political
reform13. Housing co-operatives played a marginal role. They were tolerated by the state but
were not supported because their democratic, egalitarian and open philosophy was contrary to
the authoritarian and centralizing state. After the World War II the cooperative movement,
experienced a period of revival, marked by the endeavours to rehabilitate itself through the
publication of the Cooperative Bulletin14. The New State produced several laws to counter such
moves. (Cf. Almeida, 2005:57). Despite the efforts of the New State to stifle the cooperative
movement there were a number of attempts to generate new associations. The first building of
housing co-operatives began at this time in Portugal and its colonies Angola and Mozambique.
These housing cooperatives were more associations of people than real enterprises. Members
paid a monthly contribution until they were allocated a unit. Allocations were made according to
different selection modes and there were no formal rules regarding the disposal of units. Since
there was no state financial help, members had to have the financial capacity to pay for the entire
cost of the unit. This had the effect of excluding low-income people.
The lack of housing policy to cope with new migration into the metropolitan areas in 1960s and
1970s, and overspending with the war by the colonial administration resulted, in an increase in
precarious housing and the growth of slums. State intervention came late in the colonial period.
During that period, the housing co-operatives applied political pressure to get financial assistance
from the state. In 1969, the Housing Development Fund was created. Within the fund, a co-op
housing technical service called SAL – Sector de Apoio às Co-operativas - was set up. The Secretary
of State for Housing and Public Works was created and changes were made in the law of the land
and t he construction of houses, in addition to the encouragement of the cooperative sector.

11
The Decree Law nº 22513, of 12/05/1933 excluded cooperatives from tax exemptions (Cf. Almeida, 2005:57).
12
Carlos Nunes Silva (2014) Urban Planning in Lusophone African Countries p.10
13
RO Barreto. et al (2010) The limitations of Portuguese housing policy: reflexions on the importance of intersectoral action, ISSN
1679-3951. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1679-39512010000400005
14
Boletim Cooperativo (1951) and the organisation of a general cooperative congress, the Reunião Magna, in 1956.
Housing cooperatives were subsequently launched in Angola. One of the most important housing
cooperatives in colonial period was called Lar do Namibe. It had about three thousand
members15. However, the participation of cooperatives in housing was limited in Portugal and its
colonies of Angola and Mozambique, representing less than 1% of production licensed houses16.

In most post independence African countries, cooperatives remained high or even came higher
on the political agenda, irrespective of their colonial tradition. In Angola, as was the case in the
colonial period, government sponsored and government-controlled cooperatives remained the
norm. The post-independence cooperative sector lost most of its voluntary character and strictly
became subject to political and ideological imperatives17. In socialist countries like Angola and
Mozambique, cooperatives became largely responsible for the distribution of so-called ration
commodities. The evolution of cooperatives in Angola mirrors the changing relationship between
cooperatives and the state. In line with the policy to make cooperatives key actors of
development, practice fortified the role of the “registrar” or “commissioner”, enforcing vertical
structures, granting tax exemptions, monopolies, preferential budget allocations and other
privileges, redefining membership criteria, etc. In general these practices strengthened the
authority of the state over the cooperative movements18.

In 1985 a cooperative housing model was developed by the Sambizanga Project in Luanda19. The
"Cooperative" functioned mainly for the regularization of land tenure and collective procurement
of housing inputs such as materials and labour, but had no facility for collective ownership since
there was no legislation in place for housing coops. The cooperative was established to support
the process of "Auto-Construção" or self-help owner-controlled incremental house building, that
encouraged mutual assistance, aspiring to evolve into higher' forms of co-operation in the future.
The cooperative initially had a mere twenty families as members, but had accumulated a long
waiting list. A second phase involved forty housing lots that were marked out and allocated to
coop members for self-help building.

After 1990 single-party regimes such as Angola’s were confronted with ever growing calls for
democratic reforms and popular participation. In the subsequent period of liberal reforms,
governments generally, reduced the role of the state in cooperative development to purely
regulatory functions such as registration20. With the beginning of the structural adjustment era
and because of disappointment and frustration in slow moving projects, development partners
had almost completely abandoned cooperative development as a target and instruments of their
cooperation policies, and focused on the promotion of individual small enterprises instead. The
combination of those events, i.e. the sudden removal of state support and subsidies and state
protection led to the rapid collapse of most state-sponsored cooperative movements in Africa21.

15
Henriques da Silva (2015) Interview with the founder of the Lar do Patriota Cooperative, Development Workshop
(unpublished)
16
RO Barreto. et al (2010)
17
Develtere, et al (2008) p.13
18
ILO (2014) p.8
19
Cain A. (1986) Bairro Upgrading in Luanda's Musseques – Development Workshop & MIMAR Magazine AKF Cambridge,
http://archnet.org/system/publications/contents/3995/original/DPT0588.pdf?1384778079
20
Patrick Develtere, Ignace Pollet & Fredrick Wanyama (2008) Cooperating out of Poverty - The renaissance of the African
cooperative movement – p.8, ILO & World Bank Institute , Geneva
21
Ibid – p.4,
Legislation on housing cooperatives was
drafted22 in 2010 but not yet implemented,
lacking the publication of specific by-laws and
regulations. The draft law makes provisions for
exempting cooperatives from paying any taxes
on their incomes. Likewise, the state will assist
cooperatives by making land available from the
state reserves intended for housing. These plots
of land will be made available with basic
infrastructures properly installed, although the
cooperatives themselves may also parcel up
and urbanize the land. The state will also assist
cooperatives by swiftly issuing the necessary
surface rights, and construction permits as well
as other licenses. The state has committed itself
to making public funds available, as well as to
provide preferential funding to cooperatives
with at least 100 active members. Houses
within the cooperative may be classified as
individual or collective property. The prices of
houses must correspond to the sum of the
following values: cost of the land and
infrastructures; cost of the studies and projects;
cost of the construction and complementary
equipment; administrative and financial costs Sambizanga cooperative members discussing housing
related to the execution of the works; and the models
cost of all licenses and taxes paid until delivery
of the house. The deposit for the house may not be higher than 10% of the sum of these total
costs.

Several housing cooperatives were initiated in Angola in the post-conflict reconstruction period
after the end of the civil war in 2002. Table 1 compiles basic data on the development of housing
cooperatives in Angola from colonial times to the present. Due to the lack of a formal registration
system for housing cooperatives, there is no central source of information on the sector and the
table was compiled from a literature and media review as well as interviews with key informants.

22
Macauhub (2010), Angolan government targets real estate sector, 3rd May 2010, macauhub.com.mo/en/2010/05/03/9012/
Table 1: Summary of Angolan Housing Cooperatives (from media sources and interviews)

Beneficiaries
/completed
Name of

Launched

Targeted
Location How Financed & Built

Planned
Cooperative

Units
Year
Lar do Namibe 1960s 3,000/na Middle class Colonial era
Namibe Self-built dwellings
Sambizanga Luanda 1965 60/20 Low income Sites and services, owner built
Project slum
dwellers
Lar do Luanda 2001 5,000 middle- $5 million loan, Savings and
Patriota income Credit Bank (BPC)
3 classes Unit cost23 T4 $165,000, T3
$95,000, T2 $55,000
Member payments average
$100 / month over 10 years
N'jango Yeto Luanda, 2005 15,000/n 50 % Military Pension Fund
Huíla, a economic, UNIPREV
Zaire and 40% middle Land granted by Government
Cabinda and 10% topographical layouts made
high Unit cost $ 19,000 to $300,000
Larben Benguela 2007 100/na medium Self-financed PPP
and high Land allocated by municipality
income
Projecto All 2011 50,000 low-income Angolan Armed Forces
Pérola Verde provinces (300 excombatan (FAA)
finished ts Salary deductions interest-free
by 2012) widows and Housing Development Fund
family Vietnamese credit $3 million
members De-mined land
Employ local builders

Nosso Zimbo Luanda, 2015 4,000/na employees Not-for profit association

Huambo, of Ministry Banco Sol credit line
Benguela, of Finance Commercial building
Huíla, contractor
Malanje
Namibe

A new general law on cooperatives24 was passed in August 2015. Several articles in the new law
can usefully be applied to housing cooperatives. Article 14 permits cooperatives to acquire real
estate property and other rights necessary for the development of its activities. Article 112

23
ANGOP (2004) Cooperativa O Lar do patriota lança casas económicas em 2005, (prices from 2004) Agencia Angola Press 25
December 2004.
24
Cooperative Law 23-15 of 31 August 2015
allows subsidies to be granted by the State for the acquisition of tangible fixed assets as long as
they are not distributed among members. Article 113 exempts cooperatives from paying fees
and taxes in the implementation of its objectives.

Case Study of Cooperative Lar do Patriota

Angola’s first post-war housing cooperative, named Lar do Patriota, was launched in 2001 as the
civil war was coming to an end. At that time a group of former soldiers from the Angolan armed
forces presented the Government, via the ruling party (MPLA), with a request for the ceding of
plots of land for agricultural development outside of the city of Luanda, a request which was
granted. The land in question was located in the south of the city, to the east of Benfica, with an
area of around 15,000 hectares.

When a member of the original group, the architect and city planner General Henriques da Silva
“Dingwanza”, came to look at the ceded land, he noted its inadequacy for agricultural purposes.
The area had no water for irrigation and the soils were poor. He recommended that the plan for
the use of the land be changed and proposed a housing development in its place. He noted that
ex-combatants needed housing as much as jobs and claimed that “96% of the Angolan population
were complaining of the lack of housing”.25

A cooperative model was proposed. The idea of a housing cooperative was to open up a new
district to the city, both spatially and socially (no physical divisions were planned). Membership
would be open to various sections of society, showing that Angolan civil construction could be
accessible in terms of cost. This model aimed to be the solution to the “situations of social
inequality in the country”.26

In spite of cooperatives being a relatively unknown model in the Luanda context, it took
inspiration from another case implemented in Angola in the colonial era: the ‘Lar do Namibe’
Cooperative, which had almost 3000 members27. General Dingwanza had studied Architecture in
Romanian and did a doctorate in urbanisation in Yugoslav and brought back his knowledge of
socialist-model housing cooperatives from Eastern Europe. Dingwanza also engaged his company
Arquitrave in the physical conception of the project which came to be named ‘Cooperativa Lar
do Patriota’. Because specific legislation for housing cooperatives had not been published at that
time ‘Lar do Patriota’ Cooperative was created, and registered in the form of a public limited
company.28

General Dinguanza29, the founder of the project, said that there was massive public interest from
the beginning. The cooperative started with 190 members who were formerly with the military,
and membership quickly grew to 2,000 in the first year. By the second year, membership had
grown to 5,000. The project’s original land grant of 15,000 hectares saw a reduction of 6,000
hectares due to two factors: a conflict with one of the cooperative’s founding members who
appropriated some of the land and a dispute with the informal residents of a shantytown which
already occupied part of the site.
25
Interview conducted at the headquarters of the ‘Lar do Patriota’ Cooperative in May 2012
26
idem
27
Mais informação in http://princesa-do-namibe.blogspot.pt/2007/04/blog-post_6920.html (acedido em 8.8.2013)
28
Segundo os estatutos in http://lardopatriota.net/paginas/estatuto.aspx (acedido em 6.8.2013)
29
António Henriques da Silva “General Dinguanza” (2014), Interviewed the Architect and Director of Lar do Patrioto on 7 July
2014.
The original project concept envisaged an area of the plan be reserved for private development,
with the aim of attracting commercial developers as external investors. The idea was that the
cooperative and commercial components project would develop simultaneously and that the
private financing would assist in subsidising the costs of the cooperative. The private part of the
project, was located on the central section of the land, and was planned to be composed of high-
density buildings, with businesses on the ground floor, services on the second floor and housing
on the upper floors. Land was also allocated for facilities and services (schools, hospitals, cultural
centres, children’s playgrounds and sporting facilities). Around what would be the “new centre”,
the periphery would expand in pre-delineated blocks and plots which would be allocated to
construction by the cooperative.

Lar do Patriota Housing Cooperative in Luanda

Source: - www.wikimapia.org 1097180

Joining the cooperative required the member to purchase one share of the cooperative in the
amount of US$100, and then over time, the member was required to pay 20% of the total cost
of the house. Depending on the kind of house purchased, the total costs of the homes set in 2002
were US$ 40,000, US$ 80,000 and US$ 150,000 for housing unit types T2, T3 and T4, respectively.
These prices were significantly lower than those offered in the real estate market. The project
had no financial support from the state, other than the provision of land, and was initially 100%
funded by members. The house construction began in 2001 and the aim was to build over 2,000
homes in the first phase. The plot sizes were 600 m2 for a two-bedroom unit (the house was built
on 80 m2 of the plot) and a plot size of 900 m2 accommodated three- and four-bedroom units
that were built on 120 to 200 m2 of the plot. The accumulation of member finance was slow as
was the rate of construction. By the end of 2004 there were 1500 houses under construction on
land covering 387 hectares30. Eventually a bank loan was secured for US$5 million from the public
bank Banco de Poupança e Crédito (BPC)31 as part of a US$ 25 million deal that was under

30
ANGOP(2004) ibid
31
ANGOP (2006) Acordo financeiro poderá dar celeridade ao projecto `Lar Patriota´. Agencia Angola Press 30 June 2006.
negotiation with a consortium of banks. The BPC financing allowed for the completion of 700
houses. Infrastructure for the housing, however, was not built because the state had committed
to provide sanitation, water, and electrical systems, recreational areas, etc. Infrastructure
installation therefore lagged several years behind the housing construction and some services
were only being installed in 2014.

The project targeted middle-income earners. After the initial 20% payment was made, members
could move into the unit, if it was available, and continued to pay a US$ 100 monthly amortization
for the house. Those who could pay off the full value of the house in one instalment received a
10% discount. After paying the down-payment of 20%, most members amortized their payments
over 15 years with an annual interest of 5%. There were penalties for defaulters, including
suspension and even expulsion from the cooperative. The fact that some residents were able to
access their respective housing by paying just 20% of its value meant that many then did not pay
the remaining amount, which hindered the intended progress of the construction of the project.
However, current Angolan law makes it difficult for the cooperative to repossess the house in
case of default of payment.

It was necessary to introduce the possibility of paying for some dwellings upfront, which helped
improve the cooperative’s cash-flow, but had several negative consequences. For example, it led
to investments by some members who were interested in houses with these characteristics
(dimensions of the dwellings, exterior space, very low cost in comparison with the rest of the
market). This measure gave rise to a parallel market in which some houses were resold with
greatly inflated prices, reaching up to US$ 700,000 for the “A” typology, when the initial price
was US$ 150,000. Faced with this loss of control, and given the need to normalise the situation,
the possibility of members to raise a bank loan was created. In this way, any member who fulfilled
the requirements (payment guarantees for all instalments, social status conferred by their
profession, amongst others), would have access to a contract for the construction of the dwelling
and would be able to obtain a housing loan through this contract.

While the cooperative attempts to manage the house prices, there remain serious difficulties in
accessing formal credit for housing for the majority of the population. Affordability has been
affected and the originally targeted social group to benefit from the project has shifted upwards
to those more affluent. Today, 80% of the families in the cooperative have at least one member
with a higher education while the rest have a secondary education. The inhabitants have well-
paid, “formal” professions – this is the only way they are able to pay such prices, which despite
being lower in relation to the market, are still inaccessible for the majority of Luanda’s residents.

The prices were also “re-adjusted”: by 2012, the A typology had increased in cost to US$ 400,000
and the C typology to US$ 150,000. Table 2 shows the trajectory of the cooperative’s house sale
prices since the inception of the project.
Table 2: Cooperative Housing Unit Prices over 15 years

Typology 200232 200433 201234 201635

C T2 US$ 40,000 US$ 55,000 US$ 150,000 US$ 90,000

B T3 US$ 80,000 US$ 95,000 US$ 250,000 US$ 150,000

A T4 US$ 150,000 US$ 165,000 US$ 400,000 US$ 240,000

Description Member financed. Housing Limited bank loan to Highest value of the After the release of
only without installed basic Cooperative. real-estate boom in Government
water, sewage and paved early 2012. subsidised housing
roads. in 2012

The cooperative reached 6,000 members by 2014, but problems arose which led to the alteration
of the systems of management. The slowness and high costs of Angolan civil construction
companies, that were originally contracted to build the housing units, prompted the Cooperative
to lower costs by contracting companies, namely Chinese ones, with a higher outputs greater
cost efficiencies.

In addition to the housing costs, the payment of a “condominium tax” was envisaged from the
beginning of the project to cover the costs of the services necessary for the normal functioning
of the district. The condominium tax would be set at US$ 100 for the A typology, US$ 80 for the
B typology and US$ 30 for the C typology. This tax was intended to guarantee the asphalting of
the streets, the distribution of water and electricity, the collection of rubbish and the security of
the district, amongst other goods in the collective interest.

However, since the monthly quotas went largely unpaid these services were not made available.
The construction of the infrastructure was halted, and left to be finished at a later date. As in
many other areas of the city, all of the infrastructure was planned and projected, but not
completed. Only a small area was completed in the first phase of construction, with asphalted
streets, running water and sewerage – a taste of what the project could have been in its totality.
With the exception of this area, the remaining streets still remain unsurfaced.

In the rest of the district, members resort to the systems habitually used in Luanda to supplement
infrastructural gaps: access to water is achieved by the use of individual tanks or cisterns
exploited by private companies which refill them. Some groups of residents have organised
themselves collectively, sharing or dividing the costs of the respective services. With regard to
energy, access is gained via generators or the construction of substations paid for by the residents
themselves to private companies.

According to the architect General Dingwanza, this model follows on from a practice which has
existed since the colonial era: “Firstly the owner/builder built his house. More families, with more

32
ANGOP (2002)
33
ANGOP (2004)
34
Interview General Dingwanza May 2012
35
Estimate based on housing market depreciation December 2016
children, sons and daughters of the town’s settlers grouped together. Then the road and the
school were constructed. Following that, other facilities were built: the church, a club for
meetings, dances, cinema... ”.36

Despite the fact that the Lar do Patriota project was launched as the result of a land grant made
by the central Government, land tenure remains a chronic problem for the cooperative. Due to
issues relating to the ownership and occupation of the land the original concession of 15,000
hectares which was already partially occupied was split in half in an early stage of the project was
further eroded over time. As late as February 2013 the cooperative was taken to court by a local
peasant association regarding the disputed occupation of a further 309 hectares of what the
association claimed had been their farm land eleven years before37. The dispute with the Ana
Ndengue Association was mediated by offering the claimants housing plots within the Lar do
Patriota site. However, there was distrust from the outset towards the cooperative model that
put the Lar do Patriota into competition with the real estate market and civil construction
companies who felt threatened by the much lower prices. Private sector competitors became
critical of the cooperative that forsakes large profit overheads and competed for buyers in the
same growth area of Luanda that had been targeted by them for private investment.

General Dingwanza estimates that the total investment made to date has been about US$ 500
million; the cooperative has a deficit of US$ 31 million but the project has been allowed to
continue to operate on the condition that financial restructuring take place.

The rate of development of the project is constrained by the availability of finance. General
Dinguanza said that their intention was to have their cooperative housing model adopted at the
national level so that financial institutions will have a viable market. At present, commercial
banks in Angola are reluctant to finance the level of the loans required by housing projects, and
commercial real-estate developers on the other hand, see the lower costs of cooperative housing
as a threat to a speculative market38.

Conclusion
Cooperatives were one of the weakest sectors in delivering housing units within the National
Program of Urban Development and Housing (PNUH). Of the 80,000 units targeted only 12,608
were built by 2016 according to the Angolan National Report for Habitat III 39. Cooperatives
providing low-cost housing require dedicated and ongoing commitment in order for them to
succeed. They need the willingness of public authorities to invest financial resources for
acquisition and renovation of buildings, and to continue to provide subsidies so that housing
charges are within residents’ economic means. The co-operative model requires that support is
given primarily so that co-ops can contribute to housing provision.

Housing co-operatives in Angola are not granted any concession in relation to land legalisation,
thereby creating a bureaucratic bottleneck that has resulted in long lead time relating to the
acquisition of land.
36
Interview conducted at the headquarters of the ‘Lar do Patriota’ Cooperative in May
37
Klub-K Net (2013), Peasants cheated by Lar do Patriota take General Dinguanza to court, 20 February 2013
38
António Henriques da Silva “General Dinguanza” (2014), Interviewed the Architect and Director of Lar do Patrioto on 7 July
2014.
39
Angolan Ministry of Urban Development and Housing (2016) National Report for Habitat III, p. 73. Presented to the UN
Habitat III Conference in Quito, Ecuador 17 October 2016
Inadequate training of co-operative members in leadership positions leads to a lack of
administrative and management capabilities in the processes and operations of housing co-
operatives.

Difficulties relative to access and mobilization of funds are necessitated by the following factors:
o Stringent conditions; o Unfavourable repayment period; o Unwillingness of the banks to grant
mortgage loans; and o Unwillingness of the National Housing Investment Fund to provide loans.
Public and/or private financial institutions need to exist to receive the pre-occupancy savings of
the cooperative housing members and provide the short-term construction and long-term
financing to cooperative housing projects.

Despite the publication of the 2015 Cooperative Law, the lack of specific legislation, housing co-
operatives do not qualify for tax exemption and incentives because co-operatives generally are
classified as business enterprises that should be making profits.

Recommendations
Regular monitoring of the progress of implementing the Lar do Patriota and other housing co-
operative pilot projects to draw lessons from implementation, managing and functioning of these
models, with a view to creating knowledge and information on the emerging activities of the
housing co-operatives.

Information dissemination are key to the formation and sustainability of the housing co-
operatives. Both the public and the government officials responsible for the implementation of
policy and legislation on housing should be well informed about the workings of housing co-
operatives in order to create conducive environment for the growth of housing co-operatives.

There should be specific policy and legislative frameworks in place for co-operative housing in
order to fast track the sustainability of housing co-operatives. Cooperative beneficiaries’
members should participate in the policy formulation processes.

Government land should be subsidised for the housing co-operatives and in addition to this,
priority should always be given to the housing co-operatives in the acquisition of well located
land owned by the government.

Financial institutions should be studied to determine the extent to which their various
instruments can be mobilised to support the co-operative housing approach and also the extent
of loans granted over the years have been used for housing. Banks should be encouraged by
government to grant loans to housing co-operatives with flexible repayment periods and low
interest rates.
REFERENCES

Cain, A. (2013a), “Luanda’s Post-War Land Markets: Reducing Poverty by Promoting Inclusion,”
Urban Forum, March 2013, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp 11-31, Springer, Germany.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12132-012-9173-x

Cain, A. (2013b), “Housing Finance in Angola,” Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa,
Johannesburg. http://www.housingfinanceafrica.org/country/angola/

Cain, A. (2016), “Opportunities for Angola’s New Urbanism after the Collapse of the Oil
Economy” Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa, 15 February 2016, Johannesburg
http://www.housingfinanceafrica.org/blog/opportunities-for-angolas-new-urbanism-after-the-
collapse-of-the-oil-economy

Development Workshop (2002), “Land Management and Land Tenure in Peri-urban Areas”,
Ministry of Urbanism & Environment, Luanda, United Nations Programme for Human
Settlements – HABITAT, Nairobi.

Development Workshop & CEHS (2005) “TERRA – Urban land reform in post-war Angola:
research, advocacy & policy development” (co-editor) Development Workshop Occasional
paper No.5, Luanda, Angola.
http://www.dw.angonet.org/sites/default/files/pdf/Terra_English.pdf

Development Workshop (2011), “Angolan Urban Land Policies, Strengthening Citizenship

through Upgrading Informal Settlements,” World Bank, Washington, DC.
http://www.landandpoverty.com/agenda/pdfs/ppt/cain_powerpoint.pdf

Freire, M.E. Lall, S. Leipziger, D. (2014) Africa’s Urbanization: Challenges and Opportunities,
p.1-2, Growth Dialogue 2201 G Street NW Washington, DC 20052 Telephone: (202) 994Ȭ8122
Internet: www.growthdialogue.org

Lucci, P. (2014) - An urban dimension in a new set of development goals – ODI Shaping policy for
development, January 2014 . http://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-
opinion-files/8800.pdf

UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2015) World Population Prospects,

http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/publications/files/key_findings_wpp_2015.pdf

UN-Habitat (2008) Global State of the World’s Cities 2010/2011

UN-Habitat (2010). The State of African Cities 2014. Nairobi: UN-Habitat

UN-Habitat (2014) State of African Cities 2010. Nairobi: UN-Habitat

Annex 1: Alternative forms of Housing Cooperatives

Housing co-operatives take different forms, associated with different ends, such as: expansion of
the housing stock; provision of low-cost housing; transfer of stock from the private rented sector;
transfer of stock from the public sector; stabilization of neighbourhood decline; support for a
sense of community; provision of housing meeting special needs; and the transformation of
social relations.40

Building Co-operatives Incorporated for the purpose of producing housing for group members,
adding their own cash and / or sweat equity to funds raised through government support or on
the financial markets. When housing has been built for each member the co-operative privatizes,
or dissolves, and members assume freehold possession of their housing.
Co-ownership Societies Set up by a third party such as a trade union or a dedicated co-operative
sponsor. Each member buys a share by paying a portion of development costs up front and taking
a lease for the balance, and can accrue equity over time as the share value appreciates. The term
shared equity co-operatives is also used.
Limited Equity Co-operatives Restrictions are placed on share values. At initial purchase
members may be required to contribute less than full market value if a nonprofit sponsor, such
as a trade union, credit union or government, contributes the difference, and in this case the
term co-partnership co-operative applies. A formula specifying the limitations on share resale
prices is established as part of the co-operative’s by-laws. By-laws may prohibit limited equity co-
operatives from privatizing.
Market Equity Co-operatives Costs are set at market values, both at initial purchase and at
resale. In markets where real estate prices are rising, residents’ capital will appreciate just as it
will in freehold owner occupation. The initiative for market equity coops has been both from
speculative builders and from individuals interested in pooling resources, including sweat equity,
to secure housing. The co-operative may privatize if members so desire.
Par Value Co-operatives The case of limited equity co-operatives with a nominal share value.
They may be zero equity co-operatives, and the term continuing co-operative is also used,
particularly in Canada, as the organizations are usually prohibited from privatizing. In that
country this form of co-operative was developed under the provisions of the National Housing
Act, as described below. In Britain the term common ownership co-operatives is used.
Secondary Co-operatives Federations formed on a regional or national basis for pooling
resources and for representing needs to governments, and technical resource groups assisting
new co-operatives. The widely adopted “Swedish model” refers to the situation in which an
umbrella organization provides organizational, technical and sometimes financial support to new
co-operatives. Regional secondary co-operatives may form national, tertiary cooperatives.
Tenant Management Co-operatives Tenants handle management and maintenance for an
existing landlord, such as a municipal or non-profit corporation, which retains ownership.41

Housing Cooperative members are obliged to respect the following rules:

(1) to pay his proportionate share of the expense of operation;
(2) to observe the rules which may be imposed from time to time regarding the use of the
apartment and other facilities;

40
Skelton - Supporting Identity and Social Needs: The many faces of co-op housing
41
Skelton ibid p.4
(3) not to use or permit the apartment to be used for any purpose prohibited by the declaration
of trust or by law;
(4) not to transfer any portion of his beneficial interest except in accordance with rules which
might from time to time be adopted,
(5) In the event of default in the performance of a member, the trustee may sell the certificate
of the individual involved at public auction.

Rochdale Principles were formulated in relation to a retail co-operative42 adhering to some or all
of them, housing co-operatives have taken different forms.
• Open and voluntary membership
• Democratic member control on the basis of one member, one vote
• Member economic participation
• Autonomy and independence of co-operative organizations
• Education, training and information for members and others
• Co-operation among co-operatives
• Concern for community

42
MacPherson (1995)
Annex 2 Interview with the founder of the Lar do Patriota Cooperative, General
Henriques da Silva “Dingwanza”

I graduated in Architecture in Romania and did my PhD in

Urbanism, in Yugoslavia. The initial idea of this project started
after I noticed that most, if not all, the existing real estate
projects in Angola were in the model of closed condominium. I
knew that that closed condominiums generate barriers
between its residents and those who live nearby. And a direct
consequence of such barrier is the increasing number of
ghettoes, criminality and other problem related with this kind
of exclusion. Thus, we wanted to avoid that.

The Lar do Patriota Housing Cooperative received support from

several entities. One of the entities that helped us is the
government. They gave us the land and minimal infrastructures
to get access to it. We also asked and got support from the
private sector – the banks; they conceded us loans. We wanted
to compete against the model of closed condominiums by
offering some diversity into the market while also preventing that social exclusion and its
negative consequences. We know that generally people who live in condominiums are those who
have some financial stability, so we wanted to make the cost of living in condominium more
affordable so that those who could not otherwise afford to live there are now able to. In addition,
we hopped that with more offer and diversity we would help reducing the high level of
speculation in Luanda’s real estate industry, which is, in some degree, is highly provoked by the
corruption existing in the local administrations.

Our model of cooperative was inspired by that of the Netherlands and other European countries
that successfully solved their housing issues with the model of cooperative. Despite being
inspired by the European experience, our model is 100% Angolan. It has been totally adapted to
our own reality, i.e., to the current needs of our country and people.

Initially the cooperative was formed at the end of the Angolan civil war by veterans of FAPLA, ex-
army of the party MPLA, and recently demobilized soldiers of the Angolan army, FAA. As a part
of the post-war demobilization program the Government gave land to the veterans as a request
of the party MPLA so that their veterans could use it for agriculture. However, because the land
given (located in Benfica) was not good for agriculture but it was relatively close to the outskirts
of Luanda so was valuable for urban development as the city was growing. We analyzed the
situation and decided that instead of using the land for agriculture, it was preferable to invest
the land in a housing project. There were already a well know condominium nearby: the
condominium Atlantico Sul located in Talatona.

As a veteran myself and also a professional architect and urban planner, I proposed using the
veterans’ land for a real estate project. We opted for a housing project because there was a huge
deficit of houses. More than 96% of the population needed house and Luanda was expanding
rapidly due to the rural exodus. Thus, so we saw on this a big opportunity for investment. From
the experience of Eastern Europe where I studied, I proposed the model of a housing cooperative.
I also knew of some hosing cooperatives from the colonial period in Angola. My own father
occupied a house in a cooperative called Lar do Namibe. It was one of the most important
cooperative in colonial period. It had about three thousand members and it served as a reference
for our project.

The Lar do Patriota Housing Cooperative started out with six thousand members. And on that
basis the government allocated 1200 hectares to us. However, as a mean of increasing their
shares, some minority shareholders instigated the population so that they could illegally usurp
the land or increase their shares. This fact prevented the cooperative from expanding the project
in the entire area it was initially conceded. Hence, the total area of the cooperative was reduced
by half, i.e., by 600 hectares. We allocated a space to the government so that they could build a
public school, a hospital and a kindergarten. However, we are still negotiating it because they
have not yet confirmed that they will do that. We projected a zone for leisure which is not yet
build. It includes a golf course, an aqua park, a botanic garden, a service station, a commercial
center, and reserved some land to commercialize for luxury houses. They will be done by a
private company independent from the cooperative.

Initially the project was of entire responsibility of my own company, called ARQUITRAVE and I
was the person who drew the urban project. The initial intention was to create a cooperative
with a center of 6000 apartments in 80 hectares and a periphery with 1500 houses in 4000
hectares. We have five types of houses, namely: C, C1, B, B1, A and A1. The most economical is
the model C and the most sophisticated one is the model A. The dimension and the price of the
condominium’s fees are in a document that you can have access too.

The cooperative was opened to ex-combatants as well as for the general public. First, one has to
become a member of the cooperative. In order to do that, the person pays $600 to be affiliated
to the cooperative and fill a form where they compromise to pay a mensal quote of $100 for the
social capital. Then, in order to obtain the right to build their houses, the clients (members) need
to pay 20% of the total cost of the houses. Thus, many residents obtained the right to build their
houses by paying only 20% of the total cost. The prices vary according to the type of the house.
So, the 20% they had to pay were $8000, $16000 and $30000 for houses of type C, B and A,
respectively. We had an agreement with some companies and they were responsible to build the
houses of our members as soon as they paid the required 20% of the total cost and filled other
requirement already stated earlier. According to our initial plan, after the payment of the 20%,
the members could start living in the houses and pay monthly mortgage of $190, $400 and $800
for the houses of models C, B and A respectively, for fifteen years. These prices are very
competitive price if we take into consideration that some of the speculators who have acquired
houses in our cooperative rent their houses of model C for $2000 and those of model B for $3000.

In 2002 we started working with companies belonging to FEP, such as MEHS, T ANGOLA and
CHANA construction, all Angolan companies. (the one to build 6000 apartments) but they were
not able to do. In 2005, we ended all contracts we had with the Angolan companies and we made
new contracts with Chinese companies because unlike the Chinese, the Angolan companies were
very slow and did not finish their work on time. In addition, they charged more for the same work
that a Chinese company did. This is their main problem with the Chinese. They do come with
their own project. However, the technology they use is faster and more economical.
With the time, we started having serious problems because the members refrain from paying
their quotes after they received the houses. We still have several people in this situation. Hence,
we continued with the project but we changed the method of payment, obliging the members
to pay the entire cost of the houses at once before they get it. Another problem we encountered
is that, given that our prices were very competitive, compared to those of other real estate
companies, many clients came to buy more than one houses so that they could rent or resell four
or five times higher! These people bought the houses in the cooperative and rented or sold it to
others and returned to live in other places outside the cooperative. The speculators have sold
houses of model A for up to $600 000 whereas our price was 150 000 in which we initially charged
20%, i.e., $30 000 and then a mortgage of $800 per month, for fifteen years. We reacted to this
by reinforcing measure to prevent those speculators from acquire houses.

A lot of things changed. By the time we started we already had a sound project and a sponsor,
the FLP, willing to support us. We wanted to maintain a close partnership with the private while
extending our project to the entire area we initially possessed. However, due to the loss of the
600 hectares, the fight we had in the court with our opponents, and the petitions they sent to
our sponsors, they (the sponsors) became less willing to invest in the project, because they saw
is as too risky.

The model of acquisition has changed. A member cannot acquire a house with by initially paying
only 20% of its total cost. They had to pay it fully. The price has now changed, also. Now we
charge 400 000 for model A and 150 000 for C. Notice that these prices are still lower than those
in other charged by other companies.

The members frequently change their houses by building annexes or extending their houses. One
reason people modify their houses is to offer them more security. For example, the original walls
of the backyard are very short and so, many residents make it taller and add fences too.

Cooperative fees are charged for services and maintenance. Houses of models A, B and C are
charged $100, $80 and $30, respectively. However, almost nobody pays. However, since this does
not happen, we benefit from the services of the municipality district just like any other
neighborhood. Thus, as a neighborhood we face the same problems (such as unpaved streets,
inexistent piped water, etc.,) as any other neighborhood does.

We paved some of the streets hoping that the executive would take the government will take
the lead on that. This is what happened during the colonial time and this is what has happened
nowadays.

According with the European model on the infrastructure is provided first and the houses come
last. However, we did not build up the entire infrastructure we need but we projected and
allocated space for it. In the first phase of our project contains paved streets, sewers, piped
water, electricity. In the other phases there is no paved streets, the residents buy they own
electric generator, there is some access to the public web of electricity with the so called PTs
(posts of transformation of electricity). In terms of water, some people are connected to the
public net but the majority have their own tanks of water.
Affordability: About 80% of the residents are graduated from universities and the rest have
completed secondary school. They have a decent income which enables them to pay what we
charge for the houses. The majority borrow form the bank and pay with their income.

We won that dispute in the district court. They appealed the judge’s decision but it will take long
until we hear from the court again, so we will move forward. Plus, we are confident we will gain
again.

When we started we did not have a bank sponsoring us. There were only members paying $100
each. We were about 6000 members, meaning that every month we had $600 000 and if we did
not have the problems we had perhaps today we would have about 20 000 members. They do
not yet have houses. Being a member does not immediately give you right to a house. They
shouldt to pay contributions regularly and if they don’t do that for more than two months, for
example, then they are excluded as members. But we have only built 1500 houses so far.

They are all private member. That is so because it is easier for us to work with private members
than those who come from a company, because tend to treat us as an ordinary real estate
company and not as a cooperative. For example we had an issue with TOTAL, because they
requested 100 houses and 50 reserves and they pressured us because we could not meet the
deadline; with a private member, things are easier to deal with.

There is a fun fact about the history of our cooperative. At the beginning of the project, the land
was $1 per square meter, then it became $10 per square meter and currently it is $30, and this
is a phenoma that happens throughout the country. Angola has plenty of land but the proximity
to the cities and the existence of infrastructure contribute greatly on the price of the land. For
example, one hectare in Eixo Viario costs $20 000 000, in Talatona one square meter costs $500
whereas here, in Lar do Patriota, a square meter is $100.