NAIROBI, Kenya — In the heart of the crowded Kibera neighborhood in Kenya's capital, Jacinter Awino shares a small tin house with her husband and four children. She envies those who have escaped such makeshift homes to more permanent dwellings under the government’s affordable housing plan.
Some urban Kenyans have moved into a government housing project on the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi, where one-bedroom units sold for $7,600 last year. “We cannot rely on the traditional mortgage route," said UN-Habitat’s head of East Africa, Ishaku Maitumbi, who recommended a cooperative savings system that is popular with Kenyan businesses.
The company's homes, like many traditionally built ones, remain beyond the reach of most Kenyans. A two-bedroom house costs $22,000 and a three-bedroom one costs $29,000. But Perrot asserted that acquiring a printer locally and making mortar locally would help bring down costs. If the tax is rejected, Kenya's government would need to look elsewhere for funding to build affordable housing.