Legal, Policy, and Institutional Review of the Affordable Housing Sector in Kenya

The Legal Policy and Institutional Review was prepared by FSD Kenya.  CAHF and FSD Kenya work together in Kenya, where FSD Kenya supports much of CAHF’s work.  For more information contact Seeta Shah, FSD Kenya’s Affordable Housing Specialist.

Affordable housing is a key pillar of Kenya’s overall growth strategy, an explicit focus of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, and a key point of attention for developers, financiers, and investors. While the Affordable Housing Programme has been underway for six years, its progress has been shaped by the policy, legislative, and institutional framework that governs Kenya’s land, planning, construction, and finance sectors.

A review of the entire framework by FSD Kenya’s Muriuki Muriungi and Seeta Shah resulted in a report that summarizes and evaluates over 140 statutes, policies, and regulations and provides further access to and interpretation of 48 cases.  The output was packaged into a report divided into four key value chains of the housing sector: Land assembly, acquisition, title, and registration; Physical Planning; Construction and Maintenance; and Financing (investment, rental, and taxation).

A general finding of this exercise is that there is a multiplicity of policies, laws, and institutions/agencies, charged with different functions, in each link of the housing value chain which unnecessarily lengthens and complicates the housing delivery process, increases costs and risks, thereby deterring investment in housing. The report also points out a need for better coordination among the various national and county government departments to enable faster and more cost-effective approvals for housing-related activities, in addition to the need to provide support to and implement current policies and laws that remain unimplemented; and ensure current housing-related data is provided and easily accessible to the market.

The Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa (CAHF) with support from FSD Kenya, has made this report available through an online platform, as a living document, prepared to review, record, and track developments in the policy, legal and institutional framework governing affordable housing in Kenya.

We welcome readers to engage with the content, providing commentary, additional relevant cases, updates etc., so that this becomes a live resource for the benefit of all working in Kenya’s affordable housing sector.

Please follow this link to access the report: https://cahf.gitbook.io/kenya-legal-policy-and-institutional-review/