The Kenya Kwanza Government intends to build 150,000 beds (housing units) in a span of one year, specifically for students across the country.

Speaking on Monday, October 21 during the UDA Comrades Chapter in Eldoret, Director of National Housing James Maina said that Parliament had already approved budget meant for this project, which is part of the bigger Affordable Housing Project.

“Adequate housing does not mean only a house, it means houses with other facilities including playgrounds, markets, shopping centres, so that we make out cities sustainable. That is the ideal situation of affordable housing project, and we are making that a reality,” Maina said.

According to Mr Maina, Kenya has close to a million students in universities, yet those institutions can accommodate only 10% of this students in their premises.

“When we went to public participation on the affordable housing law, parents told us, ‘we will support this law if only you will help our students get accommodation. We are paying too much money and this is draining our pockets’. When we took the bill to Parliament they accepted and we are planning to build students hostels through this fund.”

The government says that the phase one of the project has shortlisted 181 Technical Training Institutes and Vocational Colleges (TTIs and TVCs and KMTCs) and 15 universities spread across the country.

As far as the broader affordable housing project is concerned, Mr Maina told the university and college students convened at the Gulab Lochab Social Hall that the Kenya Kwanza administration intends to build 200,000 housing units a year, to solve the critical housing problem in the country.

How to acquire a house

He added: “Today, we have over 124,000 houses under construction. By close of the year, we will start handing over this houses. In Nairobi we will be handing over 1,000 units in Mukuru, here in Eldoret we have over 5,000 houses under construction.”