Desperate Times See Addis Ababa’s Residents Move into Semi-Finished Condominiums

Asfaw Hailu, a father of two who moved into a new neighborhood three weeks ago, barely notices anything missing from his two-bedroom apartment. This is despite the fact that his new home is semi-finished and missing many basic features such as paint and a toilet.

Making minor accommodations, he has agreed with the landlord to paint the condominium himself for a thousand-birr deduction on his monthly rent. However, not everyone in the family of four is happy with the new arrangement.

“My wife definitely hates the apartment,” Asfaw says. ” She wants to live somewhere near the city and ideally with a functional kitchen.”

After years of paying nearly two thousand birr more for a smaller house located a few kilometers away in the Ayat Meri area, the father has no plans to move. Cheaper accommodation, whether it’s finished or not, is the priority.

Asfaw is not alone; an uncanny housing development in the northeast part of Addis Ababa has been flooded with urbanites over the past month and a half. Dozens have settled in the housing condominiums near Mariam Church around the Ayat Kibir Demena area in search of affordable accommodation. Neither the unpainted walls nor bathrooms without sinks and toilets have deterred the influx of residents fleeing skyrocketing rent in the capital.

Tesfaye Hirpo, a member of the residents committee, is unfazed by the rush of new tenants flocking into their neighborhood. He says the rapid demolition of low-rent, publicly owned houses as part of the Capital’s aesthetic renovation will leave little room for options.

“There are just not enough affordable homes in the city,” Tesfaye told Shega.

The semi-finished condominiums that have fallen in public favor over the past few months are an aftermath of early attempts by the Addis Ababa City Administration to tackle the housing crisis.

Last month, the City’s Housing Development Corporation issued a stern ordinance directing homeowners who purchased homes to move in immediately, citing illegal activities in the vacant, semi-finished homes. Threats of sales contract revocations nudged many homeowners to look for tenants in a bid to avoid the fallout.

In the early 2000s the city administration kicked off the Integrated Housing Development Program (IHDP), colloquially referred to as the condominium project, to build 400,000 housing units in the Capital. Low-interest mortgage loans were going to be provided for prospective homeowners who manage to make 10%, 20%, and 80% through the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. To keep the final cost low, homeowners who are awarded houses through a lottery draw were made responsible for completing the finishing work on their homes.

Two decades later, the project had mixed success, with a little over half of the housing units completed, shifting political priorities. The City’s Housing Development Corporation has also increasingly become commercially oriented as it navigates over 30 billion birr in debts and unquenched housing demand.

Now that the Capital's foundations are being overhauled by the Corridor development, a warning has been issued to condominium owners who have largely remained unaffected by the recent renovation projects.

Several reasons have delayed the occupancy of these condominiums after they are handed to winners. These unoccupied condominiums are largely seen in some of the newer housing development project sites such as Koye Feche, Bole Bulbula, Bole Arabsa, Ayat, and even 24.

In some cases, the lack of essential infrastructure such as roads and their distance from the city center has deterred the desire to turn the condominiums into livable homes. In others, the lack of water and electricity supply has left many homeowners frustrated and unable to use their new properties.

Moreover, cost is a huge factor. According to Natnael Negash, who has been working in the construction finishing sector for four years in the capital, finishing work is expensive and time-consuming.

"Government-handed condominiums might need reinstallation of electric lines and water pipes. Then there is chucking, painting, and tiling. There might also be furniture work such as kitchen cabinets and closets, as these amenities are becoming common in condominiums and apartments," Natnael told Shega.

"Done with medium-quality items and not opting for premium, finishing work for a one-bedroom condominium could cost around 650,000 birr," he added.

Because of these factors, many condominium owners are opting to rent their houses as-is to those willing to live in them, fearing the potential loss of their properties.

Under similar circumstances, Bemnet Tsheaye moved into her parent’s semi-finished apartment around the Bole Arabsa area looking to save on rent and protect her family. She observed both the number of tenants and the rent prices increase over the past three weeks.

“I alone have helped nearly 20 people move in,” Bemnet told Shega.

At first, most homeowners were just looking for someone to occupy the apartments until the November 9 deadline by the Corporation passed. However, persistent demand for the semi-finished apartments has pushed rent prices up, with a single-bedroom flat fetching 5,000 birr minimum.

While it’s all too common to complain about rent expenses across most cities in the world, Addis Ababa’s housing crisis has become particularly pinching in recent years. A marked rise in rural-urban migration rates has compounded challenges stemming from an underdeveloped real estate ecosystem. The annual construction of formal homes in Ethiopia is 340,000 units, which is shy of the half a million demanded each year, according to the 2023 report by Africa Housing Finance.

This contrast in housing demand and supply became comically evident as residents in the semi-finished apartments began posting videos on social media. A hack of sorts to living in Addis Ababa was discovered with most comments inquiring about the location of the apartments.

Liyunesh Abebaw, a pharmacist in her early 20s, feels lucky to have seen a video on TikTok that prompted her to move into the semi-finished studio condominium, paying 3,000 birr a month. Due to its price, she feels unbothered by the lack of paint, kitchen, proper bathroom, and the once-a-week access to running water.

“This is what I can afford,” Liyunesh told Shega.

She has begun enticing many of her friends to move into the budding neighborhood.

While the Housing Corporation has decided to extend the deadline by nearly a month, skepticism over the legality of the initial ordinance has persisted.

Prominent lawyer and legal consultant Mulugeta Belay questions whether the articles being cited by the Corporation justify the threats of revoking the sales contracts. He points out how an outright legal violation needs to precede contract nullification. The keen legal observer cited that possible transgressions to the contract might be selling the property within five years of receiving it or those having to do with inheritance and gifts.

“I don’t recall any provision that justifies nullifying sales contracts based on the alleged reasons,” Mulugeta told Shega.

Nonetheless, sources within the Corporation have confirmed the time window won’t be extended for more than a month.