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KNBS Report: Affordable housing units almost double to 3,357 in 2023

President William Ruto inspects the Nyongores Affordable Housing Project in Bomet County on March 16, 2024. (Photo: PCS)

By Maureen Kinyanjui | Wednesday, May 22, 2024

The 2024 Economic Survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) reveals that in 2022, only 1,390 units were constructed.

The State Department for Housing and Urban Development almost doubled the affordable housing units in 2023 to 3,357.

The 2024 Economic Survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) reveals that in 2022, only 1,390 units were constructed.

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"The real value of public building works completed by the State Department for Housing and Urban Development rose from Sh1.6 billion in 2022 to Sh10.9 billion in 2023," reads the report.

According to KNBS, the increase was partly due to more residential buildings being constructed under the Affordable Housing Program (AHP) as part of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Model (BETA).

The AHP has been billed as a programme that will solve the country's housing crisis while providing jobs to about a million people a year. President William Ruto has marketed the idea as a do-or-die proposition.

The housing pillar of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda not only aims to improve the quality of life for people but also serves as an economic stimulus, promoting enterprise growth and job creation.

In the 2023-24 financial year, the government allocated Sh35.2 billion towards the Housing program.

The government also mobilised resources to support the construction of affordable housing units and social housing units.

As part of the housing budget, Sh3.2 billion went towards the affordable housing programme.

The overall target by President Ruto is to construct 200,000 affordable housing units annually which will create between 600,000 and one million jobs each year.

The Affordable Housing Act 2024 was signed into law in March to support the government's social housing program.

The Act introduced a housing levy set at the rate of 1.5 per cent of the gross salary of each employee. Employers are required to match each employee’s contribution by contributing an equal amount to the levy amount.