The government has allocated Ksh92.1 billion to go towards the construction of 200,000 affordable housing units.

Speaking at the National Assembly during the reading of the 2024/2025 budget statement on Thursday, June 13, 2024, Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u said the government’s commitment is to turn the housing challenge into an economic opportunity to create quality jobs for the youth directly in the construction sector and indirectly through the production of building products.

This, Ndung’u said, would be done through the construction of over 200,000 housing units each year and enabling access to low-cost mortgages to the public.

Out of the Ksh92.1 billion allocated to improving the state of housing in the country, Ksh67.4 billion will directly go towards the development of the housing units while Ksh11.3 billion will be channelled towards the Kenya Informal Settlement Improvement Project phase 2.

The Treasury also allocated Ksh1.1 billion to go towards the construction of public markets in the country.

Similarly, Ksh1 billion will be spent in the construction of housing units for the national police and the Kenya Prisons Service.

Ksh876 million has been allocated to go towards the maintenance of government pool houses while Ksh496 million is budgeted to go towards the construction of footbridges in the Kenyan roads.

The county governments will receive Ksh444 million for the construction of the county headquarters.

Housing levy

The government passed the Affordable Housing Bill in February 2024, paving the way for a national rollout of the programme that is projected to create thousands of jobs for the youth across the country.

Salaried Kenyans now part with 1.5 per cent of their gross pay which goes towards the housing fund while non-salaried individuals are required to submit a similar percentage of their incomes to the state as housing levy.

The 2024/2025 budget is set at a staggering Ksh4 trillion with the government projecting the total revenue to be collected during the same period to be Ksh3.34 trillion.

The ambitious targets are expected to come from a proposed finance bill set to be tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, June 18, 2024, with some of the clauses already generating mixed reactions among members of the public.

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