This archive report was first published on 10 December 2019.
December 10, 2019
Despite a court order halting mandatory salary deductions for the National Housing Development Fund (NHDF), the State Department of Housing has confirmed that over 17,000 Kenyans have voluntarily signed up for the affordable housing plan.
The government had initially hoped to raise Ksh.48 billion annually from the forced deductions, but with the measure now seemingly fizzled out, it will now look to private sector investments to meet its goal.
According to Housing Principal Secretary Charles Hinga, the government remains confident of pulling off the project via public-private partnerships (PPP) by leveraging on surpluses in the capital markets.
“The market has responded. Capital loves certainty, and as such, we have made guidelines for investors to put in money through policy and fiscal interventions,” PS Hinga said.
Already, multilateral institutions including the World Bank have made deals with the State to activate the plan, flanked by commercial investments by domestic and regional based lenders including the Pan-African based Shelter Afrique.
Earlier in February, the Housing State Department confirmed the receipt of in excess of Ksh.3 trillion in financial commitments by investor’s world over to partly assure of the success of the plan.
The provision for mandatory deductions beginning January 1 remains enshrined in law through the assented Finance Act of 2019, but will likely fade into the background there being no decision yet on the funds’ remittance lock-down.
