NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — In the heart of the bustling Kibera neighborhood in Kenya’s capital, Jacinter Awino shares a small tin house with her husband and four children. She envies those who fled these makeshift homes for more permanent housing under the government’s affordable housing plan.
The 33-year-old housewife and her bricklayer husband are unable to raise the $3,800 purchase price for a one-room government house. The tin one was built for US$380 and has no bathroom or running water.
“These government houses are like a dream for us, but our incomes just don’t allow it,” Awino said.
The government plans to build 250,000 homes per year, with the aim of eventually filling a housing deficit that World Bank data estimates at 2 million units. The plan was launched in 2022, but there is no data available on the number of houses already completed.
Kenya’s urban areas are home to a third of the country’s total population of more than 50 million. Of those who live in urban areas, 70% live in informal settlements marked by a lack of basic infrastructure, according to UN-Habitat.
Some urban Kenyans have moved into a government housing project on the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi, where one-bedroom units sold for $7,600 last year.
Felister Muema, a 55-year-old former caterer, paid a deposit of around 10% through a savings plan and is expected to pay the balance within 25 years.
“This is where I started living my life,” she said. “If I do something here, it will be permanent. If I plant a flower, no one will tell me: ‘Take it out, I don’t want it’. there.’ It gives me life.”
But experts say construction and financing need to change and accelerate if Kenya’s housing deficit is to be covered.
“We cannot rely on the traditional mortgage route,” said UN-Habitat East Africa chief Ishaku Maitumbi, who recommended a cooperative savings system that is popular among Kenyan businesses.
For home construction, some are exploring the emerging technology of 3D printing. A machine applies special mortar to form concrete walls and reduces construction time by several days compared to traditional brick and mortar work.
One company, 14Trees, used the technology to build a showcase house in Nairobi and 10 houses in the coastal Kilifi county.
The company’s CEO, François Perrot, said the technology could help solve the huge need for housing on the African continent, but this will take time.
“If we want to eliminate this delay, we need to build differently, we need to build at scale, at speed and with low-carbon materials, and that is what 3D printing of construction makes possible,” said Perrot.
The company’s houses, like many others built traditionally, remain out of reach for most Kenyans. A two-bedroom house costs $22,000 and a three-bedroom house costs $29,000. But Perrot said purchasing a printer locally and making mortar locally would help reduce costs.
“People don’t really care or care about technology. What interests them is the design, the price, the way it is put together, the layout of the building,” he said.
Nickson Otieno, architect and founder of Niko Green, a sustainability consultancy firm, said this new technology has great potential but remains limited.
“It will still take a long time to compete with brick and mortar,” he said. “Bricks and mortar, everyone can build their home wherever they are. who builds the house and can plan the cost.”
Financing remains a challenge. In June 2023, Kenya parliament approved a finance law with a new housing tax of 1.5% on gross income, to be used to build affordable housing. The law is being challenged in court. Critics argue that the tax is discriminatory, as it only applies to those in formal employment.
If the tax is rejected, the Kenyan government will have to look elsewhere for financing to build affordable housing.
Housing tax is one of the issues causing discontent among young people who organized a series of protests that included the extraordinary invasion of parliament on Tuesday. More than 20 people died when police opened fire.
President William Ruto defended the need for the tax.
“We said affordable housing and social housing are a right,” he said earlier this year in response to the legal challenge.
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