Govt doubles affordable housing units completed to 3,357

 

Ruto in a construction site

The government through the State Department for Housing and Urban Development (SDHUD ) managed to complete 3,357 affordable housing units last year from 1,390 units completed in 2022.

According to the 2024 Economic Survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the National Housing Corporation also managed to complete 164 units bringing total housing units completed to 3,521.

“The reported real value of public building works completed by the SDHUD increased from Ksh 1.6 billion in 2022 to Ksh 10.9 billion in 2023. This was partly attributed to the increased construction of residential buildings under the Affordable Housing Program (AHP) as enshrined in the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Model, (BETA),” said KNBS.

The Kenya Kwanza administration targets to construct at least 1,000,000 housing units by 2027 meaning a minimum of 200,000 housing units are required to be constructed annually.

The Affordable Housing Act 2024 signed into law in March this year is expected to support the construction of social housing programme by the government through the housing levy which is charged at the rate of 1.5pc of gross salary and which is expected to increase construction budget.

Total government expenditure on housing is expected to increase from Ksh 10.5 billion in 2022/23 to Ksh 92.5 billion in the current fiscal year.

“As a result, the value of completed residential housing units by the State Department for Housing increased from Ksh 1.76 billion in 2022 to Ksh 11 billion. The increase in the number of completed buildings was partly attributed to the government’s enhancement of construction of residential buildings through the Affordable Housing Programme,” the bureau state in the report.

As a result of increased construction activity in residential housing segment, public sector employment rose 2.1pc to 9,700 from 9,500 though unskilled and skilled workers suffered pay cuts between 2022 and 2023.

“Monthly average basic wages for the unskilled and skilled workers declined by 4.5pc and 10.9pc respectively, while that of semi-skilled workers rose by 3pc in 2023.”

Unskilled workers saw their wages plummet from a monthly average of Ksh 27,585 in 2022 to Ksh 26,354 last year, while that of skilled reduced from an average of Ksh 49,816 to Ksh 44,391over the same period.

Only semi-skilled labourers saw their average monthly income rise to Ksh 38,611 from Ksh 37,486.

By Ronald Owili