A view of Kibera Slum in Nairobi. [Photo: Builddesign]
Habitat for Humanity has called on the government to ensure the creation of at least 50,000 decent and affordable housing units for low-income households in rural Kenya in the next five years.
This would account for 10 percent of the 500,000 houses pledged by President Uhuru Kenyatta during his inauguration for a second term.
According to Habitat, 1,500 sub-standard houses are built in rural Kenya each week, mostly made of wood or mud. This compounds the housing problem for the close to 20 million Kenyans living below the poverty line.
Cyrus Watuku, Director of Programme Operations, Habitat for Humanity Europe, Middle East and Africa says so far much of the attention on housing is almost exclusively focused on urban dwellings, while rural housing needs have been almost totally ignored.
“While most of the rural residents own their homes, a majority of them are constructed using wood or mud. 35 percent of this demographic live in single-room houses with three to four people sharing a room,” Mr. Watuku said during a cocktail hosted by Habitat for stakeholders in the housing industry.
Habitat has identified three key challenges to home ownership in Kenya as; shortage of quality housing units, affordability, and access to own land.