Kenya to promote social housing to reduce slums

Kenya plans to promote social housing in order to reduce the proliferation of slums in the country, officials said on Wednesday.

Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development Principal Secretary Aidah Munano told Xinhua in Nairobi that the escalating costs of houses is forcing urban residents to live in informal settlements.

"In order to make houses more affordable to the low income segment, we will introduce social housing where government subsidizes the cost of houses," Munano said.

The East African nation will implement social housing through the enactment of the Housing Bill. Munano said the government is fast-tracking the enactment of the bill.

"We are in the final stages of developing a draft which will be presented to parliament in early 2017," she said. Under the social housing concept, government will subsidize the cost of houses to low income earners.

"We will do thorough screening to ensure that only eligible individuals qualify for the subsidized houses," she said.

The beneficiaries of the social housing will be required to make easily affordable monthly contributions for between ten and 20 years so that they can own the houses.

Private developers have concentrated in the middle and high end property market due to high returns in the sectors.

"As a result we are experiencing shortage of approximately 200,000 houses in the low income segment annually," Munano said. Endit