More than 170, 700 Kenyans have already registered to get the government’s affordable houses. A report shows that thousands of Kenyans are registering daily on the Boma Yangu platform that was recently launched.
The portal aims to collect data to be used for planning and allocation of the Jubilee Government’s affordable housing program. Any Kenyan over 18 years of age qualifies to apply for the allocation of one of the more than 500,000 houses that the government plans to build in partnership with other stakeholders.
The affordable housing programme, one of the pillars of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four agenda, aims to ensure that low and middle-income households in the country have access to decent and affordable housing.
It has a target of delivering close to 150,000 units every year that is to be provided through the National Tenant Purchase Scheme. At the moment, developers are mainly building for the upper middle class and the super-rich to plug a massive housing deficit.
In Nairobi alone, six out of every 10 people living in the capital operate from slums. Under the programme, a bedsitter will cost KSh 600,000, a one-bedroom house KSh 1 million while a three-bedroom house in an apartment will go for KSh 3 million. Currently, the average selling price of a house in Nairobi is about KSh 12 million, which locks out majority of prospective home owners.
This affordable pricing may explain the reason why Kenyans are eager to register and get the houses. To qualify for the allocation, a registered Kenyan will need to begin making monthly contributions to the Housing Fund, capped at KSh 2,500 per employee and select their housing preference from the upcoming or available stock. Then, using a fair and transparent system which is free of human intervention, the applicants will be given the houses.
Should one opt not to get a house, he or she will be entitled to getting the lifetime contributions, plus interest earned, after 15 years or when one retires. Once allocated the house, the monthly payments will be equal to the rent one normally pays, if not less. The amount payable for the house will depend on the type of house selected and allocated. The monthly payments will be determined after considering the amount of deposit paid and the desired payment period.
The typical payment period will be at least 25 years. Monthly payments will be fixed for the life of the financing. Members of the police service and disciplined forces will get the first right to the first 20% of the units, while civil servants will get preference to the first 30% of all units applied for online.
Unemployed people or those with irregular income will also have an opportunity to own the houses under the scheme, as long as one proves they can make the regular monthly loan repayments. The first project, at Park Road estate in Nairobi’s Ngara area, will see at least 2,000 low-cost houses built within the next few months.
Other areas to be covered in the first phase include: 20,000 houses in Makongeni, 5,000 units in Shauri Moyo, 3,000 new homes in Starehe and Mavoko in Machakos.
The second phase of this ambitious project will see houses constructed in Athi River, Eldoret 1, Cooperatives 2, Mombasa 1, private developers 2, civil servants 2, Nairobi regeneration and some counties.
Lot three will cover Kisumu 1, Nakuru 1, Athi River 2, Cooperative 3, private developers 3, civil servants 3, redevelopment of Nairobi’s old houses and in some counties.
The mega initiative will also provide massive opportunities, especially those working in the informal sector. It is estimated that the project will provide 350,000 jobs for both skilled and unskilled workers over a four-year period.
The whole project is estimated to cost KSh 1.5 trillion.