Housing co-operatives push for tax relief

Housing co-operatives want immediate activation of the 15 per cent corporate tax waiver to leverage multibillion shilling investment in affordable mass housing developments across the country.

National Co-operative Housing Union (Nachu) chairman Francis Kamande said giving tax relief to savings and credit co-operative societies (Saccos) could unlock the Sh1 trillion savings igniting a boom on land owned by individual societies.

“We have the land, members and the government has promised to inject funds into offsite infrastructure development. If you activate the tax relief, it will be upon individual societies to formulate favourable mortgage products for members,” he said.

Speaking during the 29th Nachu annual general meeting in Nairobi, he called on the government to effect the income tax relief for first-time home-owners saying it will boost uptake of development loans.

As at the end of 2017, the 23,000 savings societies had raised Sh1 trillion in savings and had Sh700 billion worth of assets. Some 800 housing societies had Sh8 billion in savings and had constructed 10,000 housing units.