World Bank’s Kenya Economic Update: Housing—Unavailable and Unaffordable notes that Kenya has targeted the provision of 200,000 housing units annually for all income levels. However, the production of housing units by 2017 was less than 50,000 units annually, well below the target number, culminating in a housing deficit of over 2 million units, with nearly 61 per cent of urban households living in slums. This deficit continues to rise due to fundamental constraints on both the
demand and supply side and is exacerbated by an urbanization rate of 4.4 per cent, equivalent to 0.5 million new city dwellers every year. Under the last leg of President Uhuru Kenyatta two-year term, he has set an annual target of 500,000 low cost housing units to meet 200,000 annual deficit. This is part of the Big Four Agenda, which also captures manufacturing, access to healthcare, and food security. In his Jamhuri Day Celebrations speech, President Uhuru Kenyatta said the Government had laid an appropriate legal and policy foundation that would provide the platform to transform the country-housing sector. “As promised, we have established the Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company, whose sole remit will be to work with the banking sector and the cooperative movement through SACCO’s, to make available affordable mortgage finance for those wishing to own a home,” said President Uhuru. “The Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company will help to extend the tenure of housing loans from the current average of seven (7) years to at least twenty (20) years. It will also assist in driving interest rates on mortgages to single digits,” he added. Already the government has opened an online portal where Kenyans who want homes need to register. According to the BomaYangu website, for you to be eligible to own a house, one must be a Kenyan Citizen, be over 18 years of age and have a valid national identity card. The website further explains that one must be able to complete his or her profile by submitting personal details, housing preferences, and the type of the house they are applying for. Details are verified with the relevant government stakeholder for authenticity. “Allocation of houses to qualified applicants would start as soon as the construction of the affordable houses begin. The allocation process for the available houses would be done in a regular, fair and transparent system free of any human intervention and contact,” read part of the website. Among the keys, issues to be considered for the eligibility to own a house will depend on factors such as when you registered family status as well as demands across the housing categories. The government advice that those who will not get allocation in the initial allocation will be put in a waiting list to ensure that they get priority in subsequent allocations. This is part of the President Uhuru Kenyatta Agenda four in provision of affordable houses for Kenyans. They explained that upon registration, the system generate a unique registration number which you will use to make your monthly contribution to the Housing Fund. The Housing scheme has been categorized into three components, which include statutory contributor where mandatory contributions are capped at Sh 2,500 per month per employee and employer Volunteer contributor, the monthly contributions are not capped and voluntary contributions will not be taxed at the time of withdrawal. In addition, joint contributors where spousal or joint contributions can be made towards ownership of one house at a time. There is also an option to apply for one individually. Addressing journalist during third Medium Term Plan (MTP III) 2018-2022 held at Nyandarua Institute of Science and Technology in Nyandarua County, Public Works Permanent Secretary Prof Paul Maringa said that the units should be achieved by the year 2022. The PS noted that the move shall be met by concerted efforts by both levels of government, budgetary allocation and partnerships with financial institutions. “The low cost affordable housing units shall be met through budgetary allocation, partnership with financial institution, private developers, cooperatives and manufactures of building materials,” said the PS. In a recent assessment of the project in Embu County, seven cabinet secretaries noted that the government was on track in delivering the units. The delegation from the National Development Implementation and Communication Cabinet Committee led by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i expressed hope that that the government will surpass the target this year. Transport and Housing Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said they acquired experienced contractors and skilled work force who were doing the job well and could even put up one million houses. Macharia said inspection of various housing projects in several parts of the country verified that the agenda was achievable contrary to naysayers who said it was not possible. “We have seen people question that the Housing project can be done, but we are here to prove that it is possible to provide affordable houses to the citizens. Kenya has a deficit of 200,000 houses annually while 6.4 million Kenyans live in slums. The housing project will eliminate slums in Kenya,” he said. Macharia said the housing unit in Embu for instance, opposite Izaak Walton Hotel, would be completed on time, that is, by June 1 this year. Counties such as Meru has zoned and set aside 16.9 acres of serviced land across the county for construction of the affordable housing. This is in line with President Kenyatta’s big four agenda. The land; 2.7 acres in Meru, 6 acres in Timau, 4.2 acres in Nkubu and 4 acres in Mikinduri is known, profiled, has access to water and good roads leading to it. County CEC for land Jeremiah Lenya admitted that they were not aware of the demand for housing yet because audit firm KPMG has not released the report on a survey to determine an index for housing needs for all 47 counties. “The State Department of Housing under the Ministry was carrying out surveys using KPMG housing demand and the survey has not been published yet but Meru being very fast urbanizing, I think we will need a substantial number of units,” said Lenya.
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