The Urban and Rural Development Deputy Minister says the failure of several municipalities to hand over houses built under the Mass Housing programme, is intolerable. Derek Klazen said hundreds of houses completed under the programme remain vacant and have not been handed over to beneficiaries, due to delays in land ownership transfer. He said despite a directive from the ministry on how to transfer land, most local authorities and the National Housing Enterprise (NHE) continue to slow the hand-over. He revealed that most municipalities, including Swakopmund, having donated land on which the houses were built, should have handed Deeds of Donation to the NHE, before the houses could be given. The deputy minister urged local authorities and the NHE to work together to speed up housing allocation. He said 670 of the 807 houses completed in Swakopmund under the programme have been handed over to beneficiaries. Swakopmund still needs to build 10 000 houses to meet its housing demand. Klazen met Swakopmund Councillors and NHE representatives on the issue on Tuesday.