Over
268,000 Kenyans have enrolled for the State-backed affordable housing scheme 10
months after the government unveiled a website that seeks to facilitate
allocation of homes.
As of November
6, 268,094 citizens had registered on the Boma Yangu online portal, up from
266,520 a day earlier – a spike attributable to an announcement that a
lottery-based allocation of 228 homes in Ngara, Nairobi, would take place at
the end of November.
Principal
Secretary for Housing and Urban Development Charles Hinga said: “We are working
towards ensuring the construction, completion and handover of these houses is
expedited so we can give our people a sense of ownership, promote social equity
and improve access to our urban cities.”
Some 228
houses have been completed in the first phase of Nairobi’s Park Road flagship
project, which will hold a total of 1,370 units upon final completion in
October 2020.
Other
areas to be covered in the initial phase of the scheme include Makongeni
(20,000 houses), Shauri Moyo (5,000 houses), as well as Starehe and Mavoko in
Machakos County – where 3,000 houses will be delivered.
The affordable housing scheme, which seeks to
deliver 500,000 homes countrywide in five years, allows Kenyans to register for free on the Boma Yangu platform – giving personal information such as
employment status, household details and preferred area of residence, which will
help the government to identify the best locations to put up the houses.
After
registration, an assessment is then undertaken to verify the details provided
and upon completion, the potential buyer will then be allocated a unique
identification number which they will use to make their contribution to their
account in the fund.
“Allocation
of houses to qualified applicants would start as soon as the construction of
the houses begins. The process will be done in a regular, fair and transparent
system free of any human intervention,” reads a statement on Boma Yangu.
Allocation
of the houses will be done upon commencement of the construction after which
the new homeowner can begin paying at manageable and affordable repayment
terms.
Under the
rules governing the affordable housing scheme, the lowest paid worker, earning
less than Sh14,999 per month, (2.62% of Kenya’s formally employed workforce)
will qualify for social housing – with homes selling for about Sh500,000.
Individuals earning Sh15,000-Sh49,999 per month (72% of workforce) will be offered homes under the tenant purchase scheme, while those grossing Sh50,000-Sh99,000 (23% of workforce) will be offered mortgages at 7% per annum – payable within 15 years.https://www.constructionkenya.com/6891/boma-yangu-kenya-registration/
