Some of the houses to be occupied by the service men and women. Photo: kbctv.co.ke
The Kenya Police Service is set to receive 1000 housing units to boost the long overdue effort to provide proper housing for the police.
250 housing units had been handed over to the service which for years has lived in poor and dilapidated structures.
Housing PS Aidah Munano said plans are underway for another 1,000 units in the coming financial year.
Munano added that they expected the new houses to be constructed faster than the current ones as they were now using new and technology.
“We have so far completed 250 units and the next 800 units will be ready in three weeks as part of improving the living conditions of our police officers,” she said.
She said that they had engaged development partners for the second phase of the housing for the police terming the talks as very productive.
“We are working with the national police service in identifying areas that are in dire need of housing in parts of the country,” she said.
The PS noted that the country still faced an acute shortage of housing adding that the government was keen to address the issue.
Munano said that the country battles a large demand for housing at 200,000 housing units per year against a meagre supply of 50,000 units per year leading to an acute shortage.
“The government promised to construct 300,000 housing units between 2013 and 2017 and we are about to achieve that,” she said.
The PS was addressing the press at Morendat Training Institute in Naivasha after opening a four day workshop on proposed housing delivery strategy.
“The government is committed to addressing the issue of affordable housing and this has been done by enacting the necessary legislations and policies,” she said.
She says the Slum Upgrading Policy and the Maintenance Policy had been adopted by Parliament while the National Housing Policy and Landlord and Tenant Bill have been submitted to the National Assembly.
On his part, Housing Secretary Patrick Bucha said that various stakeholders had been invited for the meeting with a view of addressing the shortage of houses.
Bucha said that during the workshop they would evaluate the achievements, challenges and the way forward as part of the proposed housing delivery strategy.
“We have a housing scheme for civil servants and this will also be addressed during the meeting which has brought together experts from the housing sector,” he said.