State House defends President Ruto's affordable housing initiative as project faces scrutiny
President William Ruto lays the foundation stone for the construction of affordable housing units in Buuri, Meru County, on January 25, 2024.
President William Ruto’s office has absolved him of responsibility for struggling government housing schemes, defending his affordable housing programme (AHP) as a “key pillar of the Bottom Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), (that) did not emerge without clear planning and foresight.”
The reaction followed a Nation story highlighting struggles government agencies that have been implementing different housing schemes have exhibited, mainly having stocks of unsold houses and loopholes in their management.
In a statement reacting to the story, State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed said the struggling housing schemes were launched before President Ruto entered office and are not related to those under the AHP.
“It is worth noting that the reporting in the media is largely anchored on the Auditor General’s audit report that focused on housing projects that were designed and launched well before President Ruto assumed office in September 2022 and are, therefore, not in any way related to the AHP. None of the housing projects listed in the newspaper story fall under the AHP,” Mr Mohamed said.
He defended President Ruto’s AHP as an initiative articulated in the government’s manifesto and which was “designed differently from previous housing programs, with specific policy interventions to lower the costs of housing significantly to ensure affordability for ordinary Kenyans.”
“Such interventions include access to public land, provision of free last-mile services like sewerage, electricity, water, and internet, and exemption of all construction inputs under AHP from value-added tax (VAT). These interventions have enabled the National Housing Corporation (NHC), as one of the implementing agencies of the AHP, to sell units at between Sh1 to Sh3 million, compared to the previous high of between Sh7 and Sh8 million,” he added.
The basis of Nation’s story highlighting the loopholes in the government’s housing schemes management emanated from a series of Auditor-General reports- a public institution- poking holes in issues such as different agencies' inability to sell houses after investing hundreds of millions, and problems with collection of rent from thousands of government houses.
The reports have raised issues with housing schemes implemented by the National Housing Corporation (NHC) and the State Department for Housing. Both entities are currently playing a central point in implementation of President Ruto’s AHP.
The NHC, for instance, plans to deliver 100,000 affordable houses through the AHP by June 2027.
State House says that uptake of AHP units that have so far been completed has been high, thus it has no fear of a “demand problem” for the thousands of houses coming up.
“For example, the Government demolished 39 units of old houses in Park Road, Nairobi, and replaced them with 1,370 affordable units, all of which were sold out within 90 days. To illustrate the huge demand for affordable housing, when half of the 1,370 units at Park Road were offered to members of the public, over 33,000 Kenyans paid deposits of at least 10 percent,” it said, adding that “most of those who missed out have not asked for a refund of their money and are instead waiting to be allocated other units under the AHP.”
State House also claims that 531,943 Kenyans were saving on Boma Yangu- the interface between the government’s affordable houses and Kenyans seeking ownership of the units.
On the Boma Yangu’s website, the government says 30,000+ Kenyans have saved to own the houses, out of 300,000+ who have registered. The Parliamentary Budget Office put the number of Kenyans saving on Boma Yangu at 56,315 by September last year, while Housing Principal Secretary put the number at 33,000 in June last year.
“As of today, August 6th, 2024, there were 531,943 Kenyans saving over Sh2.255 billion under the Boma Yangu initiative,” Mr Mohamed said.
State House also says that since September 2022, 103,000 affordable housing units have been launched and are under construction, employing 160,000 Kenyans.
By December last year, President Ruto put the number of Kenyans employed on the programme at 120,000.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data on employment in Kenya’s construction sector in 2023 showed that just 4,300 new jobs were created during the year.
“The Kenya Development Corporation Housing units mentioned in the new story, constructed between 2011-2015, do not fall under the Affordable Housing Program. It is a housing investment scheme under the State Corporation,” Mr Mohamed said.
