The government plans to make 500,000 Kenyans become homeowners without breaking the bank.

On December 11, 2018, the groundbreaking ceremony for the 500,000 affordable houses will be held on at Parklands, Nairobi.

Income

Housing Principal Secretary (PS) Charles Mwaura told a parliamentary committee the houses which will be built in the next four years, will cost Ksh1.3 trillion and are aimed at ensuring middle-income households have access to decent and affordable dwellings.

The PS told the National Assembly Transport, Public Works and Housing Committee that there will be three categories of houses that will be available to Kenyans depending on the level of income: social, low-cost and mortgage gap.

The social houses will be for people earning up to Ksh14,999; low-cost (Ksh15,000-49,999) and mortgage gap (Ksh50,000-99,999).

Housing Programme

One bedroom houses under the social housing programme will cost Ksh600,000, while those buying them will be expected to pay ksh2,500 per month for 25 years.

Under the same house category, a two-bedroom house will cost Ksh1 million, for Ksh4,500 per month, while a three-bedroom house will go for Ksh1.4 million, for Ksh6,500 per month.

The houses will be located in all the 47 counties and will be constructed on both national and county government land.

The PS said the national government will have a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with county governments for delivery of 2,000 housing units per year.

County Government's Role

Under the MoU, county governments will provide land while the national government will provide finances and capacity building.

Members of the public will be required to register in the online portal, where they will be asked to indicate the preferred location of their houses and they will be provided with information on the type of home they qualify for based on their income.

According to the PS, some of the prequalification criteria to be used to award the houses will be income, family size, choice of preferred location of the home, current assets owned and accumulated deposit.

Affordable housing is one item on the Big Four agenda that President Uhuru Kenyatta has focused on in his second and final term in office. The other three are manufacturing, universal health coverage and food security and nutrition.