KAMPALA 10^TH MAY 2022 – The Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Honourable Matia Kasaija has acknowledged the importance of decent housing and accommodation, in the socio-economic transformation of the country. The Minister was launching the Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (Assignment of Retirement Benefits for Mortgages and Loans) Regulations, 2022. The regulations enable savers to assign  up to 50% of their accrued retirement savings to mortgages and housing loans.

The Minister of Finance, in February 2022, issued the new regulations with the key objective of ensuring that retirees have decent shelter and enjoy dignity in retirement. The provision for mortgage or housing loan is provided for in the URBRA Act, 2011. According to Section 68, 2 (a), a prescribed proportion of a member’s benefits may be assigned and used to secure a mortgage or a loan for purchasing a residential house.

“Housing is one of the basic human needs that have a profound impact on the health and welfare of an individual,” Hon. Kasaija said, adding that older persons are among those that are most adversely affected by the housing crisis in Uganda. As people grow older, they spend between 60% to 90% of their time at home; they cannot work and they need a warm and secure environment. But as they grow older, their homes also get more dilapidated and need constant maintenance.

Living with the fear that they could retire without a decent place of abode, many Ugandans have always pressed government to allow them use their savings as collateral for housing loans and mortgages. Research shows that when members receive their lumpsum payout of retirement benefits, they spend up to two-thirds of the package constructing retirement homes. They tend to use up their benefits, sometimes without even completing the construction. This leaves them with neither cash nor shelter.

Martin Anthony Nsubuga, the CEO of URBRA, affirmed that the regulations would contribute to the betterment of the housing situation in Uganda and relieve the pressure on retirement benefits, but cautioned that this was not about premature access to retirement benefits.

“Accrued retirement benefits shall only be used as collateral for securing a mortgage or housing loan,” he clarified, adding that under the provisions, a member would be able to: acquire land on which a residential house has been erected; erect a residential house on land in respect of which, the member has right ownership; and carry out alterations or repairs to a residential house owned by the member,” Mr. Nsubuga said.

Apart from the prospect of decent housing, members will also enjoy their benefits without necessarily drawing down. Mr. Nsubuga urged all savers and trustees to know their rights and responsibilities to ensure the smooth operationalization of the regulations. He further reassured all stakeholders that the regulations had the force of law, having been signed by the Minister and duly published in the Uganda Gazette.

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