July 12, 2023.
For the Government to deliver 200,000 habitable affordable houses annually and to increase mortgages from 30,000 to a million, there is a need for the Government to work as one, CS Zachariah Njeru has said.
The CS made the statement today when delivered remarks during the official opening of a retreat organized by the State Department for Housing and Urban Development to bring together all Affordable Housing Programme enabler agencies.
Njeru was accompanied by the Housing and Urban Development PS Charles Hinga during his visit to the retreat in Naivasha.
The meeting was attended by many agencies including those in the water, roads, education and health sectors, NEMA, Kenya Power among others.
CS Njeru noted that there is a need to craft a delivery model that will see the new housing stock have access to the utilities and amenities as envisioned in the Constitution.
“We will be able to deliver our promises as a Government when we work as one team and that is what we want to achieve,” said the CS.
He added that a recent study by the State Department for Housing and Urban Development identified 1400 informal settlements in Kenya as the growth continues to increase.
Further, the study also indicated that 65 percent of Kenyans living in urban areas, cannot access basic services and amenities thus the rising cases of violence.
In his remarks PS Hinga said the collaboration with the agencies is aimed at getting a solution to the housing deficit in Kenya.
“The increase of the informal Settlements calls for the objective of finding solutions that will not only increase the development of housing stock in the country, but to also avail them at cost effective prices to increase affordability for Kenyans,” said PS Hinga.
The CS and the PS encouraged Kenyans to register on Boma Yangu portal under the E-citizen platform through the USSD code *832# to access the gateway to home ownership.