According to the Cabinet Secretary for Lands, Alice Wahome, the government will release 4,800 units by March 2025. The big question is to who these houses will be released to.
It requires some simple logic to understand the thinking behind the whole motive around the Affordable Housing Project (AHP). What is the need to be addressed by this project and who identified it, what gap is the government trying to seal with this project and who will be the beneficiary of this project?
It is clear that Kenya requires more houses to take care of the increasing population. However there is need to establish the kind of housing required for this need. Most of the dwellers in the urban areas where the houses are being constructed are either employees or businesses people. The government employees whether at urban or rural areas are apparently carrying the bigger burden of paying for the construction of those houses. It has never been made clear whether the houses would cure a housing problem for the employees who toil and pay for the houses or this is a revenue collection venture for the government.
According to the CS, the houses will range from Kenya Shillings deposit of 64,000 to 5,600,000 with a monthly rent of 3,900 to 45,000 respectively for a studio house to a three-bedroom house. The payment period may vary from 20 to 30 years based on various factors. One can apparently pay in cash or through a tenant purchase scheme. Both schemes are open to the public on a willing seller-willing seller scenario. It’s a fact that majority of Kenyans will not afford this amounts and the same moneyed fellows who already have their houses and high income will buy these houses.
Another mind-boggling question is if this houses have been constructed with a monthly fund sourced from employees pay slips, why shouldn’t they become the obvious beneficiaries of those units? Won’t this by like a case whereby people toil on their own land, plant seeds, harvest but the produce is put on the common market for sale? Somebody answer me!
As from 1st July 2023, of course after a hiatus occasioned by court cases, employees must pay 1.5 of their gross salary for the Housing Levy and an equivalent of 1.5% to be paid by the employer. For instance, an employee paying Ksh4, 741 will have an equal amount totaling to Ksh9, 284 or Ksh113, 784. This law requires that all employees on contract may it be interns, casuals and those on contract must pay the levies.
My mind has always wondered, if someone has a mortgage paying for a house in Nairobi for 20 years, why should the same person be subjected to the levy. What if I used my little savings to pay for a house both in my region of employment and another similar investment in my rural area, should I also carry that extra burden? While I might want to have a house for my retirement house, it should be that the choice would be my area of choice and the house constructed in a design that I desire. Most of the houses are high-rise houses not suitable for retirement homes.
Another school of thought that has never convinced me is the narrative of creating employment for the jobless Kenyans. While the political class went around the country promising the youth employment, it’s crazy for someone to imagine that citizens would carry the burden of actualizing their campaign promises.
While the Affordable Housing Project is a noble idea, there is an urgent need to rethink the rationale for the project. One thing must be clear that employees cannot fund politicians’ popularity and therefore must get what is dully theirs. I pay for construction of a house, I must be allocated the unit.
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