From 2018 to 2024: A look at Kenya’s Affordable Housing agenda

• Kenyans have been paying a 1.5% Housing Levy collected by Kenya Revenue Authority, generating an estimated Sh63.22 Billion annually
• Affordable Housing agenda costs include recurrent expenditure, training, and construction projects totaling Sh369.5 million, Sh300 million, and Sh4.25 Billion respectively
• President William Ruto's administration has launched 28 projects to provide 41,641 houses since September 2022

The State Department for Housing & Urban Development reports that the Affordable Housing agenda costs Sh369.5 million in recurrent expenditure, Sh300 million in training and Sh4.25 Billion in the actual construction projects.

Since 2018, the Affordable Housing agenda has been a pillar in the Jubilee government’s four-point agenda and a prominent project for the current Kenya Kwanza administration which introduced the Housing Levy and the Affordable Housing Act.

How many Affordable Housing projects have been completed?

As of July 2024, the State Department has listed two completed and delivered projects with a total of 1,189 housing units.

Of the completed units, 584 units are in Buxton Phase One, Mombasa County which had been commissioned by former President Uhuru Kenyatta in February 2022 and 605 units at the Nakuru Bondeni Affordable Housing project which was commissioned in 2021.

The Jubilee administration had been working on 8,872 houses by the time its term ended in 2022. These projects were carried over into the pool of ongoing projects across the country, they include:-

1. Pangani Affordable Housing (Nairobi County) – 1,562 units
2. Bachelors Jeevanjee Estate (Ngara, Nairobi County) – 1,800 units
3. Buxton Point Phase 2 (Mombasa County) – 1,850 units
4. Moke Gardens (Athi River, Machakos County) – 4,118 units

Under the National Police and Prisons Services housing program which began in 2016, 1,782 units have been completed out of the planned 4,630 housing units.

READ: Ruto promises to deliver homes worth Sh400,000 for select Kenyans

Affordable Housing projects commissioned under Ruto

Since September 2022, President William Ruto’s administration has launched 28 projects which will altogether provide 41,641 houses.

There are a further 19,965 housing units contained in 38 projects that are yet to be officially launched.

Who benefits from Kenya Kwanza’s Affordable Housing agenda?

While there have been questions over whether the statutory Housing Levy deductions qualify as contributions toward acquiring an Affordable Housing unit, the framework around AHP only provides for either a tenant purchase model or deposits through Boma Yangu for ownership.

READ: Proposed tough consequences of defaulting rent for affordable housing units

AHP, however, has also resulted in benefits for various entities working around projects. These include:-

1. Jua Kali sector and MSMEs who have been prioritised as suppliers of various inputs such as hinges, doors, windows, and more.
2. Constituencies are benefitting through local training centres for Appropriate Building Materials and Technology (ABMT) Centres to facilitate knowledge sharing and innovation.
3. Low-income earners living in low-cost housing and slums are beginning to report safer, more dignified housing in their neighbourhoods.
4. 6,813 units have also been enlisted under the Affordable Housing agenda through the Private Sector AHP Incentive Supported Projects initiative.

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