Housing Policy as an Agenda for Elections 2017

This is a policy brief that is derived from a study to understand the dynamics and trends that inform the availability of housing demand and supply in Kenya. It finds that Kenya’s formal housing policy has a strong supply focus that shortchanges rural dwellers whose main challenge to adequate and good housing is based on demand constraints. The proposal here is that a more efficient market for housing would create better housing conditions, the liberalization of the trade in housing materials is imperative and ought to be complemented with other fiscal policies and the inadequate investment in urban housing make rental housing in urban areas should be achieved through housing vouchers for poor residents as replacement for rental controls.