Hinga: We to create liveable, safe and sustainable cities for all

In this interactive series, we invite readers to send in questions to selected public figures. This week, Housing Principal Secretary Charles Hinga responds to your questions.

1. Effective January 2019, all workers are set to lose a certain percentage of their salaries so that you can implement the affordable housing programme as part of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four agenda. How and when will such employees benefit from those houses? Nathan Muthamia, Chuka

First, I will state that no one who participates in this scheme, whether through the employer-employee scheme or through voluntary contributions, will lose their money. If anything, the contributors will actually get a return on their investment. This is because the Housing Fund is designed as a saving scheme where Kenyans make monthly contributions towards the purchase of an affordable house and where those savings then earn a return based on the overall return of the Fund.
Secondly, the members have the option of accessing their contributions and the returns accruing 15 years after their first contribution or the attainment of retirement age.
On the question of allocation, potential home owners will be required to register on the affordable housing portal, after which they can begin making contributions. We have put in place a fair and transparent system that will then evaluate those who meet the set qualification criteria for acquiring affordable houses. Once those are generated by the system, they will be allocated a house as soon as developers begin constructing affordable houses.
2. What measures have you put in place to ensure that everyone in the country will access this housing plan? Okulo Andrew Guya, Nairobi

The Affordable Housing Programme (AHP) is a nationwide initiative which aims to provide decent, quality and affordable housing to our people throughout the 47 counties. The main target are Kenyans in the low income brackets who have previously been excluded from owning decent homes due to the prohibitive costs.
We will be delivering this plan in phases and as such will start off with some flagship projects that will provide about 100,000 units and we will work towards ramping up to our vision of delivering 500,000 homes, all over Kenya, over the next five years.
3. Sir, how do you plan to model the Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) strategy in order to ensure that you deliver affordable housing to the most vulnerable people at the bottom of the pyramid? Will ordinary Saccos participate? Komen Moris, Eldoret

AHP is an ambitious programme that requires all hands on deck. We require strong partners who bring to the table the expertise, the technology, the finances, the infrastructure, incentives and all the requisite requirements needed to make this plan a success.
We recognise the Sacco movement which over the years has recorded impressive growth and emerged as strategic economic drivers. We aim to leverage on their strong membership, particularly those that are well organised and well run, and explore synergies that would be mutually beneficial. The Development Framework Guidelines, which are available on our website, detail how developers, both public and private, will engage with the government in implementing affordable housing.
The Kenya Mortgage Refinancing Company has been established to provide long term mortgage refinancing to qualifying Saccos. This will further enhance the loan tenors for the Saccos to their members.
4. Have you considered the use of locally available materials to support Kenya’s manufacturing and jua kali sectors or will it be a case of importing both technology and materials killing our local industries? E. Karani, Nairobi

We see AHP as a catalyst for development that will have impact at the local, regional and national levels as well as support the growth of other auxiliary sectors such as manufacturing, construction, transport, finance and many others. This is because the developers will source for some of the services and goods related to its operations locally. The partners will, for instance, incorporate alternative building materials and technology while others plan to set up factories to develop other new techniques and technologies. In addition, we appreciate that this project will be labour-intensive and therefore partnerships with local Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) bodies are in the offing.
5. Already, there are workers servicing mortgages or own houses and have no plans to own an additional house yet the government still wants to take a certain percentage of their salaries to pay for affordable housing. Why can’t the government make it optional for people to decide whether or not to enroll into the programme? Jaynerose Waithera, Kenol

The AHP is an ambitious, capital intensive project and as such was designed to ensure that the Housing Fund receives contributions from different stakeholders so as to reduce the financing burden on government and therefore guarantee the programme’s success. This means that employers and employees and people who are servicing mortgages are part of the categories identified as contributors. For such people, however, the fund will be a savings scheme where contributions and all interest accruing will be transferred to the contributors’ retirement schemes after 15 years of regular contributions or upon reaching retirement age.
6. What are you doing to ensure that development plans of all our 47 counties are aligned with the affordable housing policy of the national government? Dan Murugu, Nakuru

AHP aims to provide decent and affordable housing units to low- and middle-income households in 59 municipalities across all 47 counties. However, even with the ambitious government plans to deliver 500,000 units, this figure pales in comparison to the estimated deficit of 1.8 million. This means that we need strong partnerships and support from both public and private sectors and partners of good will in order to deliver on this promise. County governments are an integral part of this programme, since we would rely on them to, among other things, identify suitable land for putting up these facilities and develop the supporting infrastructure.
7. Housing has continued to be a major challenge to many internally displaced people since 2008 when we experienced post-election violence. What comes to your mind when you move around and see the horror of their makeshift shelters made of polythene papers when proper housing is a basic human right? Dan Murugu, Nakuru

We are committed to the New Urban Agenda that ensures that we create liveable, safe and sustainable cities for all. In this agenda, we have factored in the plight of people who have been forced to live in sub-humane conditions because of political conflicts. In Turkana, for instance, the State Department constructed housing units for IDPs. In addition, we have the Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme which is undertaking social housing programmes for Kenyans and upgrading of slum and informal settlements.
8. Any mention of your ministry and what immediately comes to mind is a sector inflicted with cases of houses built on riparian land and road reserves and some houses collapsing and killing people. What is your department doing about this?
Francis Njuguna, Kibichoi
It is true that the sector has been facing many challenges which can be attributed to various factors. But time has come for us to learn from our past mistakes and failures and reclaim our cities. We are investing in finding solutions to these challenges and have developed interventions that ensure we provide better, and sustainable mixed-use developments that can bring transformative change to the economy and the country.
There is the Nairobi Building Inspectorate whose mandate is to ensure that buildings constructed on riparian land and those illegally constructed are removed to enhance safety and save human lives.
The State Department is working closely with this and other government agencies such as Nema, county authorities and other relevant departments to restore sanity in the sector.
9. How is the Housing Fund sustainable since it seems it was imposed on employees? What safeguards are there to ensure that any new government that comes after the 2022 elections will not do away with the programme? Jeff Chepkwony, Sigor, Chepalungu
The Housing Fund is based on a unique funding model that aims at removing financing dependency on any one party. As such, the fund will be capitalised in various ways.
First, it will be jump-started by an initial cash injection from the government. It will also be financed through voluntary contributions from potential homeowners and statutory contributions from employees and employers which we estimate to be in the tune of Sh5-6 billion per month. In addition, we will also welcome grants from development partners and investments by equity investors.
To ensure its sustainability if another government comes in place, the programme has been anchored in law. For instance, the Finance Act 2018 amended the Employment Act by inserting Section 31A which establishes the Fund.
10. Even before the first stone is laid, there are reports of favouritism in the award of a contract to a firm related to a family member of a big person in government. If this is the case, what assurances are there that the public will actually get value for money? Josiah Onyango, Mombasa
The reports of favouritism are incorrect. The formulation and execution of the Fund has been and will continue to adhere to principles of fairness, impartiality and transparency and observe highest standards of integrity to ensure that no money is lost and that every deserving applicant gets a house that they applied for.
We are keen on avoiding the legacy issues that have negatively affected the previous housing schemes. We deeply encourage you to report any irregularities known to you to the relevant agency.