Govt to construct 100,000 affordable homes to ease crisis in Coast region and empower locals
By Farhiya Hussein |
The government has announced a dedicated initiative to enhance affordable housing options and construct additional units across the Coast region, where a housing crisis has been escalating.
The government has announced a dedicated initiative to enhance affordable housing options and construct additional units across the Coast region, where a housing crisis has been escalating.
The Affordable Housing Program (AHP) will oversee the construction of 100,000 housing units in Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi, Taita Taveta, Lamu, and Tana River counties. Mombasa alone will have 50,000 units, with Phase 1 of the Sh6.5 billion Buxton housing project consisting of 512 units already completed and delivered to their owners. Phase two is currently underway and will consist of 1,512 units.
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According to John Karanja, the Coast regional director of the Affordable Housing Program and Markets, once all the project sites are activated, it will create 200,000 jobs for both skilled and unskilled Kenyans. "We expect the benefit to be enormous on the value chain of housing development once these sites are activated in these counties.
We expect to have about 30,000 jobs both skilled and unskilled, created," said Karanja. Karanja also mentioned that the government is working closely with the Jua kali sector in the projects to ensure that both skilled and unskilled Kenyans gain employment in the housing project. "To ensure that they benefit, the government has ring-fenced more than 80 products to be supplied by Jua kali artisans in all localities where the houses are being constructed," he said.
He added, "Mombasa, for instance, we will have all doors and windows to be fabricated and all supplies to be procured within the county." Ring-fencing the products used in AHP means that contractors will not go out of the country to source for products to be used, which will translate to the empowerment of locals and the local economy.
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