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{
    "id": 118873,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/118873/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 214,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Shitanda",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Housing",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 207,
        "legal_name": "Peter Soita Shitanda",
        "slug": "soita-shitanda"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to reply. My Ministry recognizes that there are several reasons why many Kenyans are unable to obtain housing loans from financial institutions and commercial banks. The Ministry has identified and summarized these challenges and recommended incentives and re-engineering measures that need to be implemented to make housing more affordable. To this end, the following incentives and initiatives are being undertaken. The Retirement Benefits Act has been amended to allow retiring members assign their benefits for mortgage purposes as this will take away the burden of security from borrowers. The limit on deposits whose interest is exempt from tax has been increased to a maximum of Kshs3 million for savings under the Home Ownership Savings Plan. We are also urging banks and financial institutions to allow multi-generational mortgages as this will increase the repayment period and reduce the monthly repayment, hence, making housing loans more affordable. Additionally, we are still negotiating with the Ministry of Finance with a view to establishing a guarantee scheme and tax concessions to promote enhanced utilization of micro-finance institutions for savings mobilization and extending of credit to low income urban households. The Government, through prudential regulations, is looking into ways and means to cause financial institutions to give more favourable terms to home savings accounts. Finally, the Government is also trying to take the initiative in the establishment and capitalization of the public/private owned mortgage insurance institutions for credit enhancement to low income households."
}