Kenya needs two million homes to curb slum explosion according to the World Bank. file photo | nmg
The World Bank says Kenya should collaborate with real estate firms to raise access to low-income houses.
In
its latest report on housing, it says a public-private partnership,
where the government provides land while the private sector builds the
houses, could see prices fall drastically.
The bank’s
lead financial sector specialist and co-author of the report, Mehnaz
Safavian, says the government should also support the housing sector by
helping the private sector source for low-interest financing from social
development financial institutions and providing basic infrastructure.
In
an earlier interview, Letas Developers chief executive Patrick Muchoki
said land was a major hurdle to the provision of affordable housing.
To
boost confidence in housing products on offer, the World Bank urged the
government to ensure all deals between house buyers and developers were
above board thereby averting incidents in which prospective house
owners lose cash to shadowy housing companies.
The
report, which offered a four-point remedy to the housing deficit, said
Kenya provides about 50,000 houses against a 200,000 demand for homes
annually.
“The production of housing units is below the
target number culminating in a housing deficit of over two million
units out of which 61 per cent live in slums. This deficit continues to
rise worsened by increased urbanisation rate of 4.4 per cent equivalent
to 500,000 new city dwellers every year,” it noted.
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