Employer-assisted Housing Addressing Accessibility and Affordability for Civil Servants in Kenya

Abstract

Housing has remained a major concern to the government since Kenya attained her independence. Homeownership is still very low and the average earning employees cannot afford financing to buy median priced houses. More recently, there has been widespread public debate and media attention around housing accessibility and affordability which this research seeks to expound on. The research discusses the two concepts as they apply to civil servants homeownership, examines the effectiveness of policies affecting affordability, evaluates homeownership models provided by the civil servant housing scheme, additional re-engineering measures that can be adopted to cater for the lower income groups and then documents the aggregate evidence. To achieve the above, various stakeholders and professionals were consulted in putting the research together. Structured interview questions were drafted and distributed to various professionals and policy makers. The study revealed that civil servants have reasonably priced housing package that addresses the affordability challenge however many more cannot access let alone afford. Despite the gains made, the study indicates that a very small fraction of civil servants have benefited largely because of their purchasing power. A huge majority of civil servants may not or will never get an opportunity to an affordable house. The study is organized into five chapters. Chapter one covers the background information, problem statement, research objectives, research hypothesis, significance and scope of the study. Chapter two focuses on available literature for EAH. The research methodology is covered in chapter three and the research findings explained in chapter four. Chapter five draws the conclusion, recommendation and lists areas of future research. The research analyzed EAH design and suitability for both employers and employees. The research adopted a qualitative method on collecting data through interview questions. Additionally, the study performed an incisive analysis of the challenges affecting accessibility and affordability and lists recommendations as well as areas of future research.