President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday met with COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli to discuss the roadmap towards the realization of affordable housing, a key pillar in his Big Four development blueprint.
Atwoli led the trade unionists as part of a bi-partisan group together with the Deputy President William Ruto, Members of Parliament and labour leaders where they were taken through the steps the Government is taking to deliver the 500,000 housing units over the next five years.
The discussions covered a wide array of aspects needed to lower the cost of housing in the country including the escalating cost of land, provision of supporting infrastructure, anchor legislations and financing among other key considerations.
President Kenyatta called on leaders to participate in the programme with a view of making it better arguing that Kenyans deserved good quality and affordable houses.
[caption caption="The bi partisan team of MPs, Senators, workers union which met with President Kenyatta and DP Ruto"]
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"Let us all purpose to make the dream of many Kenyans to own decent and affordable houses a reality by actively participating in this programme and playing our respective roles,” the President challenged the leaders.
He further commended the 22 counties that had already signed up to the programme and challenged the remaining to get on-board.
On his part, the Deputy President appealed to the leaders to support the housing programme by becoming its biggest champions in their constituencies, counties and among workers respectively.
“As leaders, we have a unique opportunity of resolving the housing challenge which has eluded us for over 50 years by championing this programme,” the Deputy President stated.
Statistics show that Kenya has a housing deficit of 1.9 million houses with an annual demand of 250,000 units against a yearly supply of 50,000 houses.
The affordable housing programme incorporates supply, demand as well as the enabling environment considerations that make house ownership in Kenya an expensive undertaking with the objective of providing affordable houses for the urban poor, rural communities and the middle class.
According to the project pipeline presented by the Principal Secretary in the State Department of Housing Charles Hinga, the affordable housing project will be unveiled in Nairobi and progressively rolled out to other counties.
[caption caption="Transport CS James Macharia addressing the team which the President and Deputy President"]
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Park Road, Makongeni, Muguga Green and Shauri Moyo housing projects, accounting for a total of 27,840 houses, will be among the first to be rolled out.
