Units the counties will get in President Ruto's affordable housing plan
President William Ruto operates an excavator machine as he launched the Soweto East Zone B social housing programme in Kibera on October 25, 2022. The project will comprise 4000 houses.
Populous counties will get the bulk of housing projects under President William Ruto’s Affordable Housing Programme (AHP).
Out of a total of 39,012 housing units by the National Housing Corporation (NHC) in 35 counties, Mombasa leads with 11,166 proposed units, followed by Machakos (10,681), Uasin Gishu (2,362), Homa Bay (2,038) and Kericho (1,597) rounding up the five counties with the most proposed residential units.
These residential units are part of the Ruto administration’s efforts to bridge the annual gap of 250,000 homes.
Having secured Sh3.8 billion in funding from the Exchequer, NHC has identified projects that can be launched and begin construction within four months, becoming a part of the quick-wins strategy for the housing agenda.
“The AHP has focused on the identification and prioritisation of special planning areas where human settlements are likely to grow the fastest,” said Housing Principal Secretary Charles Hinga.
In Mombasa County, Changamwe Redevelopment will have the most units at 9,750. Jomo Kenyatta Makande will have 749, Redevelopment Bububu Housing Scheme will have 587, while Likoni Housing Scheme will have 80.
In Machakos County, Stoni Athi Housing Scheme will host the lion’s share of the units at 10,585 while both NHC Athi River Housing Scheme and Kithimani Housing Scheme will have 138 units.
There are four proposed projects in Uasin Gishu County: Eldoret Kidiwa Redevelopment (1,119 units), Eldoret Bondeni (526 units), Eldoret Kapsuswa Redevelopment (502 units) and Kapsuswa Kipchoge Housing Scheme (215 units).
Three projects in Homa Bay County – Gingo Housing Scheme, Homa Bay County AHP and Mbita Housing Scheme – will make up slightly over 2,000 units.
In Kericho County, the proposed units will be distributed between Kipkelion Housing Scheme with 1,251 and Kericho Mortgage Housing Scheme with 346.
Interestingly, Nairobi has only 809 proposed projects in the pipeline: Mariguini Housing Scheme (534 units), Pumwani Housing Scheme (227 units) and Kibera Karanja Housing Scheme (46 units).
Counties with the least number of proposed housing project units are Bomet (99), Vihiga (80), Kisii and Nyamira (59), and Kakamega (49).
Collaboration
The President, while launching housing units by a private developer in Ongata Rongai, Kajiado County in October, said his administration is drafting a programme that will rope in the private sector and county governments.
He asked governors to release land for the construction of the units saying the national government will use its financial muscle to provide amenities like water, sewage systems and roads.
“We will start 5,000 units in every county going forward,” he said.
At present, there are 30 selected projects for implementation across counties based on memoranda of understanding with 27 counties that have begun the process of identifying appropriate pieces of land. Of these, county-level initiatives within 20 devolved units can be implemented if funded.
With a cumulative 16,094 housing units, these projects were previously advertised and are either under contract or going to be re-advertised in order to attract the right kind of investors.
In these proposed projects, Nairobi County leads with a total of 4,400 units with the Starehe Affordable Housing Project having 3,000 units while the Shauri Moyo B Affordable Housing Project has 1,400 units. Machakos County has 3,944 units while Kilifi, Marsabit, Kisumu, Narok and Samburu have the least number of units at 200 each.
Residential units are expected to take up half of all land used while commercial facilities will occupy 10 per cent, utilities, roads and services 25 per cent and open spaces take up 15 per cent of the land.
