President William Ruto on Tuesday, March 19, assented the Affordable Housing Bill into Law during a meeting held at State House, Nairobi.
The head of state signed the bill after both the National Assembly and the Senate passed it last week after making several amendments to it.
Following its approval into law, both salaried and non-salaried Kenyans will be deducted 1.5 per cent of their monthly pay to the Affordable Housing Fund.
The signing of the bill into law was initially scheduled for March 18 but a communique from State House announced that the president would sign the bill on Tuesday, March 19.
According to the government, the deductions are set to resume immediately in a bid to hasten the construction of affordable houses.
Speaking ahead of the enactment of the bill to law, Majority leader in the National Assembly Kimani Ichung'wah, who also sponsored the affordable housing bill noted the signing of the bill to law would give rise to a new legal framework and thus deductions would come into effect on the enactment of the bill.
"We took the Housing Levy to Parliament and they passed it. I want to thank MPs," stated Ichung'wah. As soon as the bill is signed into law, deductions will resume and be made per the new Affordable Housing Act," Ichung'wah stated.
Since the start of the current financial year which will end on June 30, the government was collecting the housing levy through the Kenya Revenue Authority.
However, in November last year, the High Court quashed the collection of the housing levy terming it unconstitutional and therefore illegal.
While appealing the high court decision, the government was also forced to come up with the affordable housing bill which was aimed at rectifying parts of the Finance Act, specifically the housing levy highlighted as unconstitutional.
The bill addressed the matters raised by the court, by this, the bill went ahead to include 1.5 per cent deductions to include incomes other than those from salaries paid to employees in the formal sectors.
The bill was also amended to have individuals own only a single housing unit on the condition that they meet the requirements to own cheap houses.
