‘One ID, One House!’ PS Hinga on Affordable Housing allocation

Kenyans interested in obtaining units from the Affordable Housing project are limited to acquiring only one unit, Housing Principal Secretary Charles Hinga has said.

During a briefing on the proposal at the State House in Nairobi on Wednesday, PS Hinga emphasized that the policy states one identification card is equivalent to one house when it comes to the Affordable Housing project.

“We as a government know where we are and where we want to go. If you get a house, you cannot buy more than one unit. One ID, one house,” he said.

Hinga also noted that Kenyans who are currently making payments for other houses have the option to transfer ownership to their children.

“That money that you are contributing, you can confer the money to them so that by the time they turn 18 years of age, they will have a unit,” he explained.

The PS also explained why the contentious housing levy contribution under the Finance Bill, 2023 is mandatory.

“The housing fund is a mandatory contribution by employer and employee… Then as a country, we are able to go out there to the market and call investors and tell them to bring their money, build those houses en mass and when they finish building, give us the keys, get paid and go,” he said.

PS Hinga likened the housing levy to the fuel levy paid by Kenyans saying without a steady monthly cash flow to provide to road construction companies, the government would not have been able to undertake road construction projects.

“We went to the markets and told them to give us a lot of money today we build roads and in the next 15 years we will be paying that levy and we will be able to pay you out. If we didn’t have that, they would tell us we can’t afford that,” Hinga said.

“The highest-earning Kenyans will only pay Sh.2,500, the majority will pay Sh.1,000 and below. So when we put this all together as a country, we will be able to go out to the market and tell investors that the government is providing land at no cost for Kenyans to own homes, build houses in mass, give me the keys and go. If I don’t have the housing fund, they will refuse to build.”

PS Hinga mentioned that Kenya studied countries such as Singapore, Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, and China before presenting the proposal.

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