The quest to provide affordable housing for Kenyans began long before President William Ruto took office.
This ongoing effort has seen various strategies and shifts through the administrations of the late President Mwai Kibaki, retired President Uhuru Kenyatta, and now President Ruto.
In 2004, Kibaki initiated the Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme (KENSUP) in collaboration with UN-HABITAT and other stakeholders.
The program aimed to construct low-cost houses, install social and physical infrastructure, and introduce income-generating activities.
Kibaki’s objective was to improve the lives and livelihoods of people living and working in slums through various initiatives and interventions.
KENSUP also aimed to facilitate security of tenure, manage the environment and solid waste, mobilize community and resources, build community capacity, and address cross-cutting issues such as HIV and AIDS, alcohol and substance abuse, and insecurity.
In his tenure, Kibaki had planned to construct 822 housing units and 245 market stalls in Kibera’s Soweto area and relocate 1,200 households to a decanting site in Lang’ata.
But the project encountered challenges, among them being lack of water in the constructed units. Some beneficiaries of the KENSUP projects also swapped their units for structures in the slums, opting to rent them to middle class residents looking for houses in the city.
Last Phase
Kibaki launched the last phase of this project in 2012, before leaving office the following year. This phase aimed to construct 900 housing units and 230 business stalls, with a projected cost of Ksh3 billion.
The project also involved the construction of a nursery school, a social hall, a youth center, three solid waste handling sheds, three toilet blocks, and a boundary wall.
Also Read: How Affordable Housing Will Benefit Police, Students, Traders & Hustlers
Uhuru’s 500,000 Houses Pledge
In 2017, President Uhuru Kenyatta continued Kibaki’s agenda and introduced the Affordable Housing Plan as part of the broader Big Four Agenda.
The construction of 500,000 affordable housing units by 2022 was among the Big Four agenda items launched by the Jubilee government after the 2017 elections which secured Uhuru’s second term in office.
The government planned to spend Ksh127 billion to make this affordable housing project for middle-class Kenyans a reality by providing cheap credit, roads, and water.
At the time, the Uhuru-led government had committed to ensuring that the Country’s population is provided with adequate and decent housing in well-planned urban areas while ensuring that smaller towns and rural areas have access to decent housing.
The houses were to be located in decent places readily available to the lower, middle and upper class in the society, and adequate basic infrastructure provided to support the population.
Among the notable achievements realized under Uhuru’s affordable housing was the construction of 882 units in Park Road, Nairobi, and an additional 200 units in Machakos under the Civil Servants Housing Scheme.
In addition, the drive saw the construction of 300 units for disciplined forces/services (60 units each in Narok Police Station, Eldama Ravine Police Station, Border patrol unit in Kitui, Kakamega Prisons and Kapenguria Prisons); and 220 units in Embu.
The Housing agenda was, however, dogged by challenges including the rejection of the housing levy and lack of a framework for mobilization of the required resources.
Also Read: Explainer: How Ksh42 Billion Housing Levy Has Been Used in Affordable Housing Programme
Ruto’s Housing Plan
After taking office in 2022, Ruto launched the current Affordable Housing Programme (AHP) to deliver housing on ownership terms for Kenyan citizens.
The project aims to increase the number of mortgages from 30,000 to 1,000,000 and bridge the annual gap of 250,000 homes.
Ruto’s AHP seeks to lower the cost of homeownership, with monthly payments as low as Ksh5,000.
The Kenya Kwanza government has delivered 1,189 affordable homes so far: 584 in Buxton Phase One and another 605 units in Nakuru Bondeni Affordable Housing.
Location & Jobs
Additionally, there are 112,405 completed and ongoing projects, while another 730,062 projects are in the pipeline over the next four years.
This brings the total project pipeline to 842,467 affordable housing units.
Ruto aims to build a minimum of 200 affordable housing units in each constituency.
Currently, 162 projects are under planning, potentially creating at least 52,000 affordable homes.
The government announced that the completed AHP projects have created over 160,000 direct and indirect jobs, and it projects that the program will create over 1 million jobs during its lifecycle.
Allocation of Houses
The government will allocate housing units based on the Affordable Housing Act 2024, Sections 48 and 49, which prescribe the eligibility criteria and application procedure for affordable housing units.
A person is eligible for allocation if they are a Kenyan citizen, attained the age of eighteen years, and have not been previously allocated an affordable housing unit.
Applications shall be made by filling out an online form on the Boma Yangu portal.
The Board will then verify the authenticity of the documents attached to the application and assess the applicant’s ability to pay for the housing unit.
Applications will be considered on a first-come, first-served basis, and only for the specific affordable housing unit applied for.
After facing initial challenges posed by the rejection of the Housing Levy on grounds of unconstitutionality, Parliament enacted the Affordable Housing Act 2024 that provided a framework for the collection and management of funds collected from Kenyans.
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