Kenyans living in informal settlements have no access to decent sanitation and therefore pay to use a toilet Housing Principal Secretary Charles Hinga has said.
The PS says we have 1141 slums in the Country whose occupants pay 172pc more for water and over 45pc more for electricity than other Kenyans.
He spoke during the Kenya Affordable Housing Conference 2023 organised by the Kenya Mortgage Refinancing Company in Mombasa County.
PS Hinga said housing is a social right, and the current deficit is occassioned by the fact that the Government exited from implementing the housing agenda and left it to the private sector.
“We can disagree on how to solve the Housing problem but we must first agree there is a problem. We have a very unequal Country. A society that has low income against high land value. This pushes people to slums. If the government doesn’t intervene informal settlements will continue to mushroom,” Housing PS Charles Hinga said.
Majority of people in Nairobi walk to work because they can’t afford transport, just like majority of Kenyans live in rentals because they can’t afford to own homes.
He said the Housing levy is helping the Government build houses en masse, provide employment for the youth and women as well as support the manufacturing sector through engagement of Jua Kali groups
The Government has come up with various interventions to ensure the housing units are affordable.
They include zero rating the cost of land and infrustrtucture, multiple tax exemptions as well as reducing the cost of financing.
So far 584 units have been completed while 9,477 units inherited from the 2018-2022 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) cycle are ongoing.
The Kenya Kwanza Government has launched the construction of 39,879 units in this cycle and another 34,355 units are ready for groundbreaking.
