Here’s my proposed roadmap to housing for all Kenyans

In a three-day road tour of the Rwandan countryside last week, I did not see a grass thatched hut and wondered whether I was in Africa, Europe or simply daydreaming.

President Paul Kagame oversaw the implementation of a housing policy that stipulated that no Rwandan should live in a grass-thatched hut. And, viola, it has been done.

A decent house, with amenities such as running water and sanitation, in a safe environment is a human right. It’s a social-economic investment that accords an individual, family and community dignity, security, privacy and pride of home ownership. It enhances good living, health, education of children and overall wellbeing of households.

HUMAN RIGHTS

And what do we have? A weak legal framework. The present Housing Act, Cap 117 deals only with the National Housing Corporation and does not deal with an all-inclusive law that supports housing for all. The National Housing Policy, as stipulated in Sessional Paper No 3 of 2004, pledges decent and affordable housing for all Kenyans. It was due for revision 10 years later in 2014 but the revised version has not yet been gazetted or published. Vision 2030 also promises decent housing for all Kenyans and so does the Constitution of Kenya under Article 43(1) stating that every Kenyan has a right to accessible and adequate housing and reasonable standards of sanitation.

SLUM HOUSEHOLD

Kenya hosts UN Habitat, the global body that deals with human settlements. In various forums, this body has set goals and targets for the provision of adequate housing for all, but with little to show on the ground besides half-hearted, poorly funded urban slum upgrading programmes. They hardly have outreach to the rural poor.

The housing situation in the country is depressing. In its 2017 brief on housing, the Institute of Economic Affairs states that 35.1 per cent of houses in Kenya are single-room dwellings, 59 per cent of urban dwellers reside in single-room houses, while in rural areas 27.2 per cent do so. Only 12.8 per cent of Kenya houses have at least four rooms.

A slum household, according to UN Habitat, is a group of persons living under one roof that lacks any one of these amenities: Access to clean water, improved sanitation, secure tenure, durable housing structure and sufficient living area. Under this definition most Kenyans in rural and urban areas live in slums. Come to think of it, do you live in a slum?

BASELINE SURVEY

There are other case studies across Africa to learn from. Col Muhammad Gaddafi of Libya ran a successful integrated programme for Libyan youth in which, on graduation day, a programme beneficiary gets married to a spouse of own choice, gets keys to a new own house, keys to a new own car and a capital grant to start a business. All this has been planned over the previous five years. What a dignified way to launch a young person into earning a living?

What should be done to put the country on the road to adequate housing for all? Start with a countrywide baseline survey to collect data on households to establish the number of houses needed. What is the cost? Where should the houses be built? This has never been done beyond collecting data for census. Draw up a national housing vision and strategic and medium-term plans, as it has been done for Vision 2030. A medium-term plan lasts five years. The national housing project may be spread over 25 years, each five-year medium term covering a given region, or a group of counties.

ROBUST LAW

Strengthen the legal and policy framework. A new and robust legislation on housing is also needed.

Have a stand-alone Ministry of Housing. In the past, this portfolio was shifted from one ministry to another, making it impossible to implement housing policy.

Increase exchequer funding for human settlement. The present Housing Development Fund under the stewardship of the NHC is a drop in the ocean. Increase land tenure.

Build houses for all, consonant with local needs, cultural values and on-the-ground realities. In many Kenyan communities, boys who are at puberty sleep in their own huts, away from their parents.

The national housing strategy should take note of this and provide housing to the youth as soon as they reach puberty. At marriage, a new house is a foregone conclusion.

POVERTY AND MISERY

Improve the stock of houses and get rid of grass-roofed, earth-floored, mud-walled shacks that are usually home to fleas, jiggers, lice, bed bugs and other pests — and put up durable, climate-appropriate houses for all.

This is a human rights issue; it can be done and it has to be done. Exploit appropriate local building materials. The age of indulging in nostalgic idolising and glorifying of traditional huts and shacks in the name of preserving our culture is long gone. What is there to preserve? Poverty and misery? These shacks are not fit for human habitation in 2018. Relegate them to cultural centres or to museums.

Housing for disadvantaged groups needs special attention, programming and funding. In Rwanda, the widows of the 1994 genocide have been specially thought of, and decent, durable houses built for them throughout the country, by the government. Have we thought of housing our persons with disabilities, street families, widows, widowers and orphans and other vulnerable persons?

OWN CHOICE

Most housing projects in developing countries are biased towards urban dwellers — housing for civil servants and the disciplined forces. But everyone — peasants, farmers, herders, the youth and the elderly — has a right to decent and durable house located anywhere in the country, in a location of their own choice.

All hands are needed — national and county governments, the private sector, NGOs, UN Habitat, public- private partnerships and beneficiary communities.

Adequate housing for all Kenyans is not a pipe dream. It is a priority and can be achieved. All that is needed is political will and mobilisation of the country’s own resources.

Dr Wario, a governance expert, is a former Kenyan ambassador to China. Email [email protected]