Saturday, April 1, 2023
HomeAffordable HousingKenya: Housing cooperatives,key to affordable homes dream

Kenya: Housing cooperatives,key to affordable homes dream

Published on

The housing situation in Kenya is deplorable. Only 16 per cent of Kenyan households in urban areas own the houses they live in, while the majority at 84 per cent rent. About 61 per cent of the urban dwellers live in slums.

Such are the statistics that have necessitated the intervention of the national government, which plans to deliver 500,000 decent and affordable housing by 2022.This will be done through the Public Private Partnership model.Conventionally, Kenyans have owned housing through mortgage financing, building their houses incrementally as funds allow and through housing unions and co-operatives.

Click here to watch weekly episodes of Housing Development Programme on AIT

Kenya’s cooperative movement is ranked seventh worldwide, and first in Africa. It contributes 90 per cent of the housing stock delivery in Kenya.With over 23,000 registered housing co-operatives and more than Sh700 billion in savings, and an asset base in excess of Sh800 billion by the end of 2017, housing cooperatives are in a good position to help the government achieve its Agenda Four on housing.

Housing cooperatives have taken up the mantle in providing affordable housing for low income groups. Those who earn between Sh15,000 and Sh49,000 per month constitute 71.82 per cent of the formally employed.While Agenda Four on affordable housing envisages that cooperatives should contribute significantly towards housing stock delivery by 2022, it also calls for an integrated approach within the cooperative sector.

I am happy to recognise the effort of the office of the commissioner in coordinating a common strategy that will see cooperatives demonstrate their viable model in development.

Housing cooperatives have big chunks of land and savings by their members. They can support the agenda through unlocking their expansive land through partnerships with the government and other investors, providing financing, buying the houses under the programme through mortgage model and Tenant Purchase Schemes, aggregating demands from their members for uptake of the affordable housing and lobbying at the local level for pro-affordable housing policies and initiatives.

Source: The writer, Francis Kamande, is the chairman of the National Cooperative Housing Union (Nachu).

Latest articles

Experts, stakeholders set economic agenda for in-coming govt

The state of Nigeria’s economy has got many fearing for the worse due to...

Shareholders blame Aso Savings of breach of corporate governance rules, asset stripping inmanagement of Union Homes, Petitions SEC,FRCN and CAC

Key HighlightsShareholders have lodged a petition with the Securities & ExchangeCommission (SEC), Financial Reporting...

Debt trap and incoming administrations (2)

In 2020, one of the reputable national newspapers in Nigeria in its editorial comment...

BREAKING: Court Freezes Abia State Government Accounts Two Months To End Of Ikpeazu’s Tenure

The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Apo, Abuja has granted an...

More like this

Affordable housing in Dubai – a mirage in the desert?

Dubai has always been an exciting destination for employment – for Indians as well...

Canada Launches $4 Billion Housing Accelerator Fund to Fast Track 100,000 New Homes

The Need for Affordable HousingRight now, in cities across the country, it is too...

Duties of A construction Engineer

Duties of A construction Engineer: The Construction Engineer will be in charge of managing construction...