An affordable housing project.
President William Ruto’s flagship project, affordable housing, will miss the annual target of 200,000 units but authorities say they are on course to deliver 1 million units by 2027.
Lands Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome, whose ministry is overseeing the project, said 600,000 units are under construction.
She cited numerous challenges, including court cases and delays in disbursement of funds.
“I might not have 200,000 units per year as we had promised, but am very sure that I will be having between maybe 700,000 and 800,000 units. Our target is one million in five years. We have fallen short of the numbers of 200,000 units,” Mrs Wahome told a media briefing in Nairobi on Wednesday.
Lands CS Alice Wahome
She said the Kenya Kwanza administration’s project was derailed after lobby groups and other Kenyans moved to court to challenge it. A further delay in release of funds during the 2022/2023 financial year affected the project across the country.
However, the CS said the project has gained momentum and she expressed optimism that the target of one million units by the end of five years wasn’t farfetched.
“There was a slack in the beginning and there was a disruption by court cases. There has been a lot and I think previously, the programme was not streamlined in terms of construction, and procurement system… along the way, we may be able to recover the lost time. We have around 140,000 but the number of units in the pipeline are more than 600,000 which have taken off in the procurement,” CS said.
'180 units by April'
Mrs Wahome said that in the next two months, 180 units across the country will be ready to be handed over to Kenyans, including five units in Mukuru slums.
“In March, we expect to release the houses to the public. There are five blocks in Mukuru we are doing 13,000 units in Mukuru. Within the next 60 days, we shall be giving 1,080 units to the public.”
In November last year, during the state of the nation address, President Ruto said that the country had a huge deficit of houses and that at least 200,000 new units were required every year for 10 years.
President William Ruto lays the foundation stone for the construction of affordable housing units in Buuri, Meru County, on Thursday, January 25.
In the current financial year of 2024/2025, the National Treasury allocated Sh32.5 billion towards the construction of affordable houses.
In April 2024, the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), and Katiba Institute filed a case to challenge the constitutionality of the Affordable Housing Act of 2024, seeking to stop the state from deducting 1.5 percent from Kenyans and similar percentage from the employers towards the housing scheme.
On November 2023, the court ruled in favour of the lobby groups, declaring the Affordable Housing Act unconstitutional. But in February 2024, the MPs passed another Affordable Housing Act 2024, which was signed into law by the President in March, actualising the levy and proceeding with his project.
The initial court’s order that termed the project as unconstitutional aroused anger from the Kenya Kwanza leaders including the President who claimed that some individuals, who were unhappy with his projects were using the courts to interfere with his mandate.
President Ruto signs new Housing Bill into law
“We have a deliberate plan on how to transform our nation and no amount of court cases is going to derail our plan to change Kenya because the plan and the transformation of Kenya has been delayed for many years by vested interests and corruption and people who do not have plan to take Kenya forward,” Ruto said one year ago in protest with the court’s ruling.
The government has also downplayed fears that house owners will be harassed by private firms or individuals who would claim ownership of the land where the houses are built.
She also criticised the statement by former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua that if President Ruto is not re-elected the new government would scrap the affordable housing project.
“These are your homes and you are paying to live in it and to own and there should be no argument. Whether you want to use whichever politics you want to use, whether you want to use threats that when you come into power the government will scrap this, you will have to discuss with Kenyans because by the time we clear 2027, we will have between 700, 000 and 800, 000 units,” CS said.
Additionally, the CS said that despite having three categories of affordable housing, the main target remains the 'common' Kenyans, and the plan of eradicating slums is still on course.
She said that the social housing category targeting people earning less than Sh20,000 per month can be booked by anyone through Boma Yangu, as well as the second category which targets people earning between Sh20,000 and Sh149,000 per month.
Affordable middle class housing is also available for those earning over Sh149,000 per month.
The CS also met a lady whose clip went viral after being referred by one of the controversial pastors in the city to go to the police or the government to seek help in clearing her house arrears of Sh8,000.
Ms Moraa, through the help of well-wishers, managed to pay her deposit of Sh64,000 for one bedroom house in Mukuru kwa Njenga, which she will be able to occupy by the end of March.
Sammy Ngare, who is an Administration Police officer in Nakuru used the power of his social media to raise funds for Ms Moraa, saying that he was moved by the situation.
“After one hour, we had already collected Sh150, 000 and then the second day we collected another Sh150, 000 and by the end of two days, we had collected about Sh450, 000. We deposited the money and registered everything,” Mr Ngare said.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct erroneous information about the number of housing units completed under the affordable housing scheme.
