diff --git a/pkg/init/cmd/service/prepare.go b/pkg/init/cmd/service/prepare.go
index ca2f82632..b8c97e9bf 100644
--- a/pkg/init/cmd/service/prepare.go
+++ b/pkg/init/cmd/service/prepare.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ type Runtime struct {
 	Mkdir      []string      `yaml:"mkdir" json:"mkdir,omitempty"`
 	Interfaces []Interface   `yaml:"interfaces" json:"interfaces,omitempty"`
 	BindNS     Namespaces    `yaml:"bindNS" json:"bindNS,omitempty"`
+	Namespace  string        `yaml:"namespace,omitempty" json:"namespace,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // Namespaces is the type for configuring paths to bind namespaces
diff --git a/pkg/init/cmd/service/start.go b/pkg/init/cmd/service/start.go
index d4964ba1e..0e0341846 100644
--- a/pkg/init/cmd/service/start.go
+++ b/pkg/init/cmd/service/start.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/cio"
+	"github.com/containerd/containerd/namespaces"
 	specs "github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/specs-go"
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 )
@@ -113,6 +114,10 @@ func start(ctx context.Context, service, sock, basePath, dumpSpec string) (strin
 
 	}
 
+	if runtimeConfig.Namespace != "" {
+		ctx = namespaces.WithNamespace(ctx, runtimeConfig.Namespace)
+	}
+
 	ctr, err := client.NewContainer(ctx, service, containerd.WithSpec(spec))
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", 0, "failed to create container", err