By Emmanuel Nduka Obisue
Thousands of Kenyan families have been forced onto the streets of Nairobi as the country grapples with a worsening housing crisis driven by poverty, unemployment, and a lack of affordable homes.
In the capital, adults and children alike are struggling to survive in makeshift shelters or open streets, with little hope of securing stable accommodation.
“I have been living on the streets for 10 years and there are many challenges,” said Joyce Muthoni, a mother of three who became homeless after losing her job. “It gets very cold at night, most of the time we are hungry, the kids [are] crying. As if that is not enough the police usually beat us at night,” Muthoni added.
According to Kenya’s 2018 National Census of Street Families, 46,639 people live on the streets nationwide. The World Bank estimates that 39.8% of Kenyans still live below the national poverty line, leaving many unable to afford even low-cost housing.
In Nairobi’s Kibera slum, the largest urban settlement in Afric, conditions remain dire.
Jane Caren Knight, a 22-year-old mother of one says she pays about Ksh 2,000 ($17) monthly for a leaking mud-walled house. “The landlord does not care and is very harsh with rent. If he says rent is due on the 5th and you fail to pay on time, he locks the door or even throws out your stuff,” she said.
Homeless residents like Muthoni are calling on authorities to intervene. “We are living like refugees in our own country. If we can be helped to get jobs we will be able to raise our children and even get off the streets,” she appealed.
The Kenyan government has embarked on an Affordable Housing Programme aimed at constructing over 100,000 homes to address the crisis. But experts say more coordinated action is needed.
Dealing with homelessness requires “a concerted effort of the government authorities to provide housing for the masses,” said George Omondi, Director of Housing and Infrastructure at the State Department of Housing and Urban Development. “This could be done through social housing programmes whereby the costs are highly subsidised to enable these people to buy into the houses”.
Kenya currently faces a housing deficit of two million homes, according to the World Bank.
Last month, President William Ruto called for a global coalition to confront the challenge. “The global housing crisis is too vast for any single country to resolve. We must therefore harness the power of multilateralism to confront it,” he said.
