Nearly half of Kenyans are not aware of the government’s affordable housing programme (AHP), a new report has revealed amid a growing campaign by the State to popularise the initiative.
The Kenya Housing Survey reveals that while 53.5 percent of Kenyans are aware of the AHP, 46.4 percent are not.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) conducted the survey across the country and extrapolated the data to 28.2 million adult Kenyans, finding that 13 million Kenyans have no information about the initiative.
“Overall, 53.5 percent of respondents indicated that they were aware of the affordable housing programme. Nationally, 7.7 percent of respondents reported that they were aware of the stamp duty exemption for first-time homebuyers, 11.3 percent of the respondents were aware of the affordable housing relief with 16.2 percent of those who were aware of the affordable housing relief reported to have benefitted from the incentive,” the KNBS report notes.
The report reveals that half of rural dwellers (49.7 percent) are not aware of the popular initiative, while in urban areas, 40.1 percent of Kenyans don’t know about it.
This is an interesting revelation since the AHP has been the subject of public debate since 2023, when the government began taxing Kenyans in the formal workforce at 1.5 percent to fund the construction of houses.
While speaking on public platforms, government officials led by President William Ruto maintain that the AHP’s target is to construct 200,000 houses annually, though the targets are lower in the budget books.
Assessing how different counties compare on lack of awareness about the AHP, the report notes that counties in the northern frontier district lead.
In Wajir, 95.2 percent of residents are not aware of the programme, 93.5 percent of residents of Lamu don’t know about it, followed by Isiolo (92.8 percent), Mandera (90.1 percent) and Garissa (89.3 percent).
Across the counties hosting cities, Uasin Gishu leads in the list of those with low awareness of the AHP, with nearly half of the residents (48.8 percent) unaware of the programme, followed by Kisumu (39.9 percent) and Mombasa (39.4 percent).
About 38.4 percent of Nairobians are not aware of the AHP and Nakuru closes with a population of 21.1 percent that is not aware of the initiative.
Counties leading in awareness of AHP include Busia with 82.2 percent of its population indicating they know about it, followed by Laikipia (81.4 percent), Trans Nzoia (79 percent), Nakuru (78.9 percent) and Kakamega (78.7 percent).
“With the Affordable Housing Programme, the target is to deliver decent and affordable housing to low and middle-income households, which is fundamental in creating a stable and healthy environment that supports academic success and economic opportunities, contributing to the overall well-being and prosperity of communities,” KNBS notes in the report.
The statistics body notes that under the AHP, the government has provided incentives to increase homeownership for Kenyans, including the exemption of stamp duty for first-time homebuyers, the introduction of a salary relief for workers subject to the affordable housing levy and the tax deductibility of interest paid on housing loans.