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{
    "id": 775932,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/775932/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 191,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Washiali",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 151,
        "legal_name": "Benjamin Jomo Washiali",
        "slug": "benjamin-washiali"
    },
    "content": "achieve the progressive realisation of the rights guaranteed under Article 43. This is in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR-1948), Article 25(1) which states that everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing and housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. Hon. Deputy Speaker, we, Members, have noticed that developers are coming up with development settlements without making provision for schools. They do not leave space for playgrounds for both children and adults. I have seen adults jogging in places where that has been provided, and that has kept them in good condition. Sometimes developers have never provided for hospitals and even special amenities such as churches and mosques. So, the Housing sector is a key driver of the national and local socio- economic development due to its forward and backward linkages, thus having a big multiplier effect in job creation. The proposed Housing Policy will guide the performance of this sector by clearly spelling out the role of key stakeholders, including county governments and the private sector. It will also form the foundation upon which the administrative and legislative framework will be enhanced in order to meet the housing demand for Kenyans. Hon. Deputy Speaker, despite the important role played by the housing sector in Kenya, access to housing has continued to face numerous challenges with majority of Kenyans in urban areas not being in a position to access adequate housing and thus end up in slums and informal settlements. This is similar to what we have seen coming up in estates such as Kibera and Mathare, where we have no streets. In the event of a fire, any intervention would not access the areas required and so the need to plan is key. This is because most households comprise of low income earners. About 74.4 per cent of wage earners earn between Kshs0-50,000. Such people cannot afford rent or mortgage for housing delivered by the private sector. There is therefore an urgent need for the Government to facilitate housing for this population. In order to comply with the constitutional provisions and address the identifiable challenges, this policy has isolated the following as some of the key deficiencies in the housing sector: 1. Mismatch between household incomes and cost of housing. 2. Unfavourable land markets, particularly very limited developable land for affordable housing in zones close to the working areas of the low-income earners. 3. High cost of installing housing related infrastructure. 4. Limited access and high cost of housing finance. Hon. Deputy Speaker, kindly allow me to elaborate a bit on this. Many of the financing institutions have been supporting developers. The interest rates have varied between 5 to beyond 25 per cent. That has been a very big challenge which has also contributed to deficiencies in this sector. Limited research and uptake of appropriate and modern housing construction technologies have also contributed to deficiencies. Other contributors of deficiencies include lack of legal and all-encompassing coordinating mechanism, poor management of housing delivered by public agencies and lack of reliable data and information on the sector. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the National Housing Policy has therefore outlined the following interventions to address the deficiencies: 1. Establishment of a National Social Housing Development Fund to provide a sustainable facilitating vehicle for efficient utilisation of the scarce technical and financial resources for housing development. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}