State told to shoulder housing crisis blame

By Remie Otieno

Kenya has ignored critical policy issues in making the affordable housing programme (AHP) a success, stakeholders in the built environment now say.

In a sweeping valuation of the programme’s progress thus far, industry experts outspokenly said they were ashamed at how the affordable housing programme (AHP) by the government has been handled, five years on.

The absence of promising investment policies for private developers, sky-high property prices, high mortgage rates and short supply are some of the factors they say have seen the State miss its target to put up 500,000 affordable housing units it promised.

In December 2017, during his Jamhuri Day celebrations speech, President Uhuru Kenyatta promised to make each Kenyan a home owner by the end of his second term, which by law comes to an end this August.

But that promise has not been met according to experts who spoke on the issue.

“From the onset, you could see glaring gaps especially with policies. If the status quo remains as it is, then setting such ambitious targets would only be lip service. Affordable housing should be somewhere in the medium term planning with realistic goals that also factor in population growth,” said the Chief executive of Mizizi Africa Homes, George Mburu.

AHP has only seen just over 1,370 low cost units built, and while plans are on course to put up over 25,965 more units in the next financial year – the target is way lower than what the market had hoped to achieve at this stage of the programme.

The programme is categorized into three broad types including one, Affordable, a tailored product for individuals earning not more than Sh30,000 per month whose cost ranges from Sh1.5 million for one bedroom to  Sh4.5 million for three bedrooms.

The second unit Social, is designed for individuals earning between Sh30, 000 and Sh100, 000 while the Urban category is designed for individuals earning more than Sh100, 000 that is designed for individuals who are able to afford a little more, which by the current standards is below the normal market rate.

It is estimated that the country has an annual housing demand of 250,000 units against a supply of 50,000 units real estate developers put up every year, which represents a housing deficit of two million units, or 80 per cent shortfall.

Other factors like inaccessibility of land, property speculation and hoarding has limited their chances of taking part in the ambitious project, with lengthy property registration and transfer times, construction costs and materials also thought to be constraining the AHP.

Those reasons including outdated regulations, and the emergence of Covid-19, according to the Chief executive of Gail Properties, Alice Mukami, derailed the project’s completion with the upcoming elections also a worrying concern.

“Unless there will be continuity in completing the ongoing projects by the State, some of the mega projects like AHP will not thrive,” said Mukami, adding that agencies like the National Treasury and Kenya Revenue Services or KRA, should come to the rescue of private developers taking part in the programme through tax incentives with majority of them still healing from the effects of Coronavirus shocks.

Similar concerns were also raised during the Africa Housing Forum held in Nairobi where it emerged that Africa is faced with a shortfall of at least 51 million housing units as African cities including Nairobi are now becoming a new home to over 40,000 people every day, prompting the need for more housing units.

Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development Cabinet Secretary James Macharia noted during the forum organized by Habitat for Humanity in partnership with UN-HABITAT the need for public private partnerships (PPPs) if the affordable housing projects were to work well, for the benefit of its citizens.

“Cohesion between the public and private sectors to adopt and implement affordable housing solutions for marginalized communities will enhance the quality of life for humanity,” said Macharia.