President William Ruto's government has seen an increment in the number of affordable housing units by 1,061 per cent.
According to the President's track record two years since he took office, the units launched and under construction increased from 8,872 in 2022 to 103,000 in 2024.
This marked an increase of 94,128 housing units.
Additionally, 31,429 units are under negotiation.
At the same time, there has been a 1,061 per cent increase in the number of jobs created under the affordable housing programme.
In 2022, there were 17,744 jobs in the affordable housing projects which rose to 206,000 jobs in 2024.
This is an increase of 188,256 jobs.
In the two years, there has been a 40 per cent increase in mortgage refinancing, from 2, 522 mortgages refinanced in 2022 to 3,527 in 2024.
This marked an increase of 1,005 mortgages.
Additionally, 213 Jua Kali artisans have received prior learning assessment and recognition.
Further, the government has set aside Sh4 billion for Jua Kali and MSMEs development and Jua Kali sector.
Through the programme, the Kenya Kwanza government has provided incentives for affordable housing developers including reducing railway development levy from two percent in 2022 to 1.5 per cent in 2024.
Developers who construct 100 affordable housing annually also enjoy a 15 per cent drop in corporate tax from 30 per cent in 2022 to 15 per cent in 2024.
The developers also enjoy a 1.5 per cent drop in Import Declaration Fees (IDC) from 3.5 per cent in 2022 to two per cent in 2024.
The Kenya Kwanza manifesto committed to the construction of affordable housing units aimed at giving Kenyans accessible and adequate housing.
Ruto came up with the point under the Bottom Up Economic Transformation Agenda to ensure that those at the lower end of the economic pyramid could own houses cheaply.
When he launched the programme in 2022, Ruto committed to ensure the construction of 200,000 affordable housing units annually.
This was not only aimed at providing housing but also creating jobs for the youth.
According to Ruto's plan, the affordable housing programme would see the growth in mortgages from 30,000 to 1,000,000 through mortgage refinancing.
The programme would also provide high quality construction production to be achieved by strengthening Jua Kali industry's capacity.
So far, affordable housing is among Ruto's highest achievements.
