Hello Steemitians, Its a pleasure introducing our project to you! We hope you will like it. Just because I don't want to get you bored at all, I will make the introduction short and straight to the point.
Africa’s population is on the rise. Various countries in the continent have been working tirelessly to address the issues to do with the housing deficit. Despite the different challenges met within each and every country, most of these countries have failed to cope up with high demand for housing in Africa. With more and more people moving to settle in the urban areas from the rural areas, urban cities are becoming populated at a rate some of the governments cannot keep up with. A problem arises when the demand for housing increases which somehow leads to monopoly by Real Estate Agents. Houses become costly and difficult to get.
What is House Africa
Africa has faced a number of problems in the Real Estate Industry. House Africa was created to solve the problems being faced by Africa. House Africa is a decentralized real estate and rental ecosystem that will develop affordable properties and use blockchain technology to make buying, selling and rental process of properties less costly and more convenient and secure. The idea was developed by a group of passionate young Africans who share the same vision to see a brighter and efficient Africa.
Africa Is Experiencing a Huge Housing Deficit
Africa is a diverse continent, with roughly 1.2 billion people, 54 countries and thousands of languages. Additionally, many of its economies are facing challenges due to a number and different factors. One of the most common obstacles African markets face is a shortage of affordable housing. Kenya has a housing gap of approximately 2 million homes, for example, while more than 12 million people in Egypt live in informal buildings. This is hardly unique to the continent, but with high GDP expansion, limited job creation, strong population growth and rapid urbanization, its acuity in African economies is more pronounced.
Over the coming years, millions of Africans will need shelter — a roof over their heads. This huge population boom is the strongest underlying reason for the huge demand for accommodation and real estate properties across Africa. African markets will need to improve the fundamentals of their housing sectors. While the specific features of local real estate markets and regulatory regimes vary significantly across the continent, from Nigeria to Egypt to South Africa, chronic housing deficits, a lack of funding and an affordability gap are common throughout the region.
The Housing Problem is Too Big for the Governments
In many parts of the world, governments are responsible for providing basic and affordable housing and accommodation for its people. In Africa, however, the governments are not doing enough to solve the housing deficit problem.
In the continent’s most populated country, Nigeria for example, the World Bank estimates that over 16 million new houses need to be provided to solve Nigeria’s serious housing problem. The estimated cost of providing these homes stands are at a whopping $350 billion! That’s too much for any one government to handle!
As a result of government’s inability to close the huge gap between supply and demand for housing in Africa, the pressure from the large existing demand is pushing up real estate prices across the continent. For governments to overcome this, there is need for partnerships with private sectors.
“Adequate quality housing is critically important for economic growth and social inclusion, Governments will need to join hands with the private sector to facilitate investments in housing by expanding access to and improving the quality of existing stock, while at the same time making it easier for people to access land and housing finance”.- Mamta Murthi, the World Bank Group’s Acting Vice President for Africa.
Lack of Policy making in the Rental housing market
Rental housing in Africa suffers from a negative reputation: Landlords are often perceived as being exploitative and only too happy to offer crowded and substandard housing at the highest price they can squeeze from the vulnerable poor.
Rental housing, especially at the lower end of the market, has also often been seen as being shrouded in illegality and as contributing to inner-city decay. The frequent eviction of tenants and their mobility have likewise been seen as potential sources of civic unrest. A lot of Africans across the continent face a very huge problem when they are renting or leasing a house. The landlords can just change the terms and the one leasing the property will be left with no choice than to look for an alternative and is the one who is always at a disadvantage.
House Africa’s Solutions
HouseAfrica’s mission is to provide a solution to the HUGE housing deficit in Africa through development (in partnership with building contractors) of affordable houses and leverage on blockchain technology to ensure seamless rental experience.
Our aim is to decentralize and tokenize long term rentals in Africa and around the world. Saving billions of dollars in rental deposit, eliminate fraud, connect landlords and tenant directly — no need for agents, provide seamless and fast rental process with contract signed immutably embedded in blockchain.
HouseAfrica will use blockchain technology to simplify the whole real estate acquisition and rental practice by making it possible for sellers, buyers, tenants and landlords to complete all rental or acquisition process in one place which include: Searching for properties, Screening prospects, Selecting the best candidates, Negotiate the terms and conditions, E-signing contracts through smart contract, Paying rent through a secure gateway, Submitting maintenance/repair requests, Hire service providers (e.g., technicians and plumbers);
Why Blockchain?
We are convinced that blockchain technology will be the core engine for the real estate industry.
Security
A blockchain assets provide an enhanced level of security, increasing the security of the system from hacking and fraud. This means once a record is made about a property, it will never be altered.
Ease
Blockchain provides an easy mechanism to allow users to securely transfer the assets between parties and facilitates easy audit of user accounts. This will make the Rental ecosystem more efficient.
Blockchain provides a mechanism for securely transferring funds, and support the complex multi-party agreements that drive those fund transfers through the use of smart contracts.
The fact that the data remains saved in an immutable distributed data store means that users can rest assured that their data cannot be tampered with, payment flows can be optimized, identity can be managed securely, and ultimately the overall real estate sales or rental experience can be improved.
All users of HouseAfrica application(s) will be required to use an identity wallet to prove that they provided the data or that they initiated or approved the underlying activity.
HouseAfrica is the first blockchain company in the continent that will provide cheap real estate space and will strive to operate optimally and ensure a just, frictionless, and flawless lasting rental process for all parties concerned
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