Kenya's urban population is growing. The need for affordable housing is, too
Kenya has an affordable housing problem
NAIROBI, Kenya — In the heart of the crowded Kibera neighborhood in Kenya's capital, Jacinter Awino shares a small tin house with her husband and four children. She envies those who have escaped such makeshift homes to more permanent dwellings under the government’s affordable housing plan.
The 33-year-old housewife and her mason husband are unable to raise the $3,800 purchase price for a one-room government house. Their tin one was constructed for $380 and lacks a toilet and running water.
“Those government houses are like a dream for us, but our incomes simply don’t allow it,” Awino said.
The government plans to build 250,000 houses each year, aimed at eventually closing a housing deficit that World Bank data puts at 2 million units. The plan was launched in 2022, but no data is available on the number of houses already completed.
Kenya’s urban areas are home to a third of the country's total population of more than 50 million. Of those in urban areas, 70% live in informal settlements marked by a lack of basic infrastructure, according to UN-Habitat.
Some urban Kenyans have moved into a government housing project on the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi, where one-bedroom units sold for $7,600 last year.
Felister Muema, a 55-year-old former caterer, paid a deposit of about 10% through a savings plan and is expected to pay off the balance in 25 years.
“This is where I have started living my life," she said. “If I do something here, it is permanent. If I plant a flower, no one is going to tell me: ‘Uproot it, I don’t want it there.' This gives me life.”
But experts say construction and financing need to change and speed up for Kenya's housing deficit to be met.
“We cannot rely on
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