 Aforibu housing, in housing Kenyans, statistics show that at least 25% of Kenyans live in urban areas and 6% of that population lives in the slum. The number is expected also to rise considering the poor factors and the poor factors from urban areas and from the rural areas respectively and the low income areas is growing rapidly. So it is a dream of every Kenya to own at least a decent home that we can live in and be comfortable and call it a home you know leading to this led to the government to come up with affordable housing under its big full agenda. So my question tonight to my panelists before I even ask them that I want them to introduce themselves. Karibuni Sana, I'll start with you can introduce yourself and where you come from and your company and all that. Thank you very much. My name is Pamina Skariuki. I'm the managing director at Yotanjema homes which is a re-rested company. I call it a youth re-rested company based in Nairobi with an intention and an agenda to providing lighting up investment opportunities in the re-rested sector. We provide land selling, we provide housing provision selling and also give investment advice to any in person who is looking to invest with us. Yeah so that's what generally we do as a company. I'm Steve Kenyanjui as you've heard and I run Swadep construction company Limited. What we do, we do design and build actually what that entails from the design process to the construction as a contractor. What we want to do is our third phase is we dream and we build. So what you want to do is actually make as seamless as possible that process of house and home morning so that you can be able to have as many people getting to be homeowners and also think one other thing we also want to do is to make sure that we safeguard our clients interest so that whatever dream they have we visualize by giving them the home. Yes thank you for having us. You guys are doing a messy job so you've heard the statistics 25% of Kenyans live in urban areas and 60% of that live in the slums and the government came up with these affordable housing agenda. What exactly is affordable housing? You know it's such a general term affordable housing could be 10,000 to me or 30,000 to you or 50,000 to the other person so what exactly is affordable housing according to you? Thank you for that question. The reality is the government agenda as you have said 60% of those who live in urban centers actually have a lower capacity to even be able to purchase a house or even own a house with the current market treat. So the government came up with an idea of doing houses between 600,000 to 3 million so the highest house that they are going to be setting is going to be 3 million that is a 3 bed room house whereas one room house which they call single room is going to be going for 300,000 to 600,000. When you look at that the intention of the government is to look at it from the perspective of allowing one to own the house with their own rent. So if you are paying a rent of 5,000 that is what has been planned that you'll be paying for that house or 5,000 but leaving two yards owning your own house. So I believe for me that is a very good agenda and having been involved in the preliminary stages with the CS and the Minister of Housing I believe this was a very brilliant idea because it was going to solve the problem where the slums will be converted to become quite let me say quality or attractive houses to any person or maybe say decent houses. The issue is not cheap houses but affordable and decent houses. Yes Steve let me throw this one to you. Do you think the government plan is achievable? You can say in the long term but yes it is. So 2022 is not? Currently we have gone I think the government has done quite some considering the job with that and actually you can find about 8,000 units going to come up here to guard. So I think so far so good but I think there's more to be done and I know because you have a deficit of 200 units per year. You can hold it like this. So you see that we really have a lot of work to do. It's still I think a chunk of that 500,000 new housing that they want to actually actualize is going to be a good big, big, big way to be able to actualize and actually talking into terms and actually looking at the focus about the low income manas because you will find around 2% out of the total housing that 2% is only for the low income manas so you find this quite a small small percentage. Let me throw this one to Pamina despite the perception that informal settlement housing is very affordable or low are there cases of people who cannot afford that affordable housing? In Kenya there are people who are earning less than a dollar per day. Okay hold it like this. In Kenya there are people who are earning less than a dollar per day. That means even if you want to get the issue of slums it may not eventually go to an end but what I believe the government is trying to do is to bridge the gap as my brother has said the agenda is focused at trying to to bridge the gap and at least reduce the deficit. As you know there are 200,000 houses deficit every year that means that this cumulatively happens so if for instance every year we have 100, 200,000 which are missing even if the government was to give the 500,000 that they have promised it means we still have a deficit at par then but this as I said there are people who can afford a house worth 600,000 to 3 million so there are still people who cannot be able to manage that however with the upgraded slums it means that the others will also be able to get affordable rentals. Okay okay okay we have a there's a deficit of at least 150,000 to 200,000 and and the government is at least building 20,000 houses per annum which cannot even match up to the deficit so should the government give tax incentives incentives for every for for for the investors to build more low income houses to to to cover the deficit Steve I believe so that should actually be the motive because we find developers when they give them it's like giving something that they can that they can gain from and find something that they can have an added advantage so I think having that initiative of tax advantages incentives or find probably when you do more housing you get even the cost the tax you pay is cheaper so you find those things are some of the things that we really calling for in the industry because they help and they also bring even more because you find probably even investors may be shared to come in but when you give them such tax incentives you find such unsubsidized like probably in materials you know people are able to come in because it's that big cap and needs to be have something that should be done about it. Yes and pominels since you are in the real estate let me ask you why are investors only focusing on middle and high-end income houses is there a ready market or what is the issue why can they go and target the low income and I will start that I just want to that question in two ways one from the way the government has approached that issue the reality is they have now changed from being a developer as a government to being a facilitator towards development that means as we speak I can confirm that it is very possible for these lead estate companies to actually partner with the government I have some friends of mine who are actually approached by the government because they are developers like me and they were asked whether they can partner with the government to 300,000 houses for a lower market however why we have been focusing on the middle income these are the people with disposable income because somebody if you look at the statistics have it that only 1% of Kenyans and more than 500,000 about 7% of Kenyans and between actually 50,000 to 500,000 with majority of them 80% of them earning below 100,000 that means even if we are to look at our our financing industry that those majority of them may not have qualification to own or to even acquire some loan that means the accessibility to a loan facility is limited to those who are the minority or the majority with less income from their own uh from their own proceeds in that case why the private developers remember they are also in business they are there to make profit they look at where their risk are minimized so that they can maximize their returns as opposed to going to where the risk is high and also an assured return so in that case definitely any person who is in business they are looking at where you can be able to merge and also increase your your returns yes that's why the focus has been on the higher and the middle income but I believe the gear will shift because also uh with the current changes in the in the interest aspect that may also increase the capacity of majority of Kenyans to own rents thank you you've mentioned something to do with funding and finances let me just come back to you Parminas should the government come up with a kitty for mortgage for for the low income owners uh that's a good question but the reality is already the government has come up with something they are calling KMRC that is Kenya Mortgage Financing Company this is intended to provide where the banks were actually requested all the 60 banks in Kenya who are actually asked to put in some money so that they can be able to facilitate their construction and next week if you you are the people who give us in the news that actually the banks around four banks peraza around six banks had given 1.2 billion towards that kitty meaning the money is already being provided as a as a part of the share share holding by the by the by the banks of financial institutions you also have 10 circles which are already being shortlisted and these circles have a membership of more than 100,000 members that means if these circles and also the financial banks are able to finance the government can give what we call a guarantee to the private developers that once the houses are complete the guarantee that the government can buy off those houses and sell to their own citizens those who can afford an extended mortgage uh make mortgage through the KMRC the Kenya Mortgage Financing Company and that the cycle becomes easier so the private developers will develop the surety of having the government to to give them uh actually the the market or buy off all the units even if uh even if they have not been able the government has not received all the cash from the the buyers but you know the construction people will come in and say we have factors such as the the cement in Kenya is four times higher in the compared to other countries or high cost of land high labor cost you know among other things so how do we strike a balance at the same time offer for the bohousing steve to really have a ways and incentives how we can be able to so to do as we do the general and be able to involve the stakeholders you know we find that is upon production people cement steel think and and more of those subjects I subsidize to the people actually making as easier affordable those those products so that people as the construction people can come in and actually find even more of even in invading people can finance as well as we are ready to build and more of you see you find a gap also when you find above the labor you find there's a gap labor skill labor is quite not sufficient for us so we find there is so much things to to look at but I believe you're headed on the right direction and actually come into times because I believe the population is still growing so even those those statistics will keep on increasing so there's that need is that there need to have things and measures done so you need to sit down to call us the developers the entirely start you can be able to to get to the root of this this issue and now we can be able to move forward okay what's the way forward for us to achieve this is affordable housing what's the way forward according to you for kenyans to embrace the government agenda of the big for jadon housing that is by participating through contribution I know it has been a very controversial debate of the 1.5 percent but I think if we only look at the positive side without necessarily having a pessimistic idea we can all book and by the way I must aratu that majority of kenyans most of the people who have gone to the register and let me do income those who have gone to register for the government scheme because they know that this is going to be a reality and as I said area in my terms this is going to be something that will be achievable it may not happen in the next three years but it may happen in the next 10 years so 2022 should not be the target I'm not saying it should not be the target let it remain the target because you know when you have a target you can either shoot on the target or maybe come closer to where the target is but the reality is I believe with a good deal of the government they are going to be able to achieve that but however I also want to charge the government to improve on the infrastructure some of us developing kiyabu some of us develop outside Nairobi and there is no siwarain so if you're developing where there is no siwarain the cost of siwar is yours the cost of access access road is yours the water source is yours so if the government can bridge that gap believe me we can also be able to provide affordable housing which actually may not necessarily go to the late of 600,000 but maybe something that is between 3 million to 7 million because that is also some other class that is not usually catered for so is faster transport an efficient transport a solution that's a solution considering that if these faster transport like efficient fast trains if they are connecting towns like Nairobi, El Dorret, Mombasa if you have fast train connecting this town it can actually actually improve housing deficit in Kenya yes it could in a way but also there is that aspect that kenyas want to be associated with urban centers so but if you build those trains you can make Mombasa urban center yes El Dorret urban center what you can see is not about infrastructure development but also encouraging the devolved units that the countergovernance our government should also take up the charge and participate towards the housing housing gap by providing even government trust which is idle and give attract private developers with what they say 70 30 percent examples of partnership with the government many developers will go i'm willing to go to Mombasa to develop i know many others are willing to go elsewhere but the question is is infrastructure right for me to go in and and risk my investment in such an area okay Steve are you ready to to go to Mombasa we are ready and what's the way forward the way forward is as Pamela was saying we need to have those infrastructure up and running and you find also there are time challenges when you have uh even issues with approvals you know these these regulations by the by the counties because i was talking to a friend of mine also a developer like Pamela Sia and you find that they are preferring out of town to this set like towns like Nkitingela go to Nkitingela now it's booming the the people are moving away from from from this town center because you find inflated prices and I think also that regulation about the prices to make it I think it's that need to have that that streamlined pricing of the unit so I think also and also I think for us the youth because we are now we're talking to the youth in it's high time because we find the government has gone far ahead and done the TV these TV programs that are that are that are meant to benefit the youth so I think once we we we push and actually I think for the youth is more of not wait for the opportunities but to go and take them we could be aggressive enough that we are so to to utilize these opportunities that come up okay okay thank you so much guys your final comments and how can people reach you especially those want to get houses and develop homes and buy buildings and buy houses how can people reach you from us thank you very much I am accessible through our website we have our website which is www.nyotajemahomes.co.ke you can make an inquiry on Facebook you can make an inquiry on Twitter all these places where we can access the youths you'll be able to access us we can make any advice even if you want to buy some land anywhere even if you don't have somebody to consult just come to us we will not charge you for consulting because I believe even if you don't buy from us today tomorrow will be our next customer if you are satisfied with our investment advisory so I look forward where youths can come up and decide that you are going to own up this nation by investing in real estate remember it's only in real estate that you have viable long-term investment which you can live and help us to your children once again come to Nyotajema Homes we are going to provide the solutions in real estate for you thank you thank you for manas and Steve how can people reach you we are all over social media so we can get us at SWADEP at SWADEP construction yes we have our website www.swadepconstruction.co.ke so you can always find us there any queries about the construction sector anything we are there to help we believe that you you dream and you actualize your dreams so we welcome you to come and take us and you have partnerships with a lot of people as a real estate agent so it's an around that all your queries can be satisfied for the construction industry and thank you again for having us thank you so much for making time to come two eight two five four and today was being was business Tuesday so what I can I can say from the discussion we had in the long run affordable housing is achievable those are not my sentiments they are my panelists anyway that makes the end that brings us to the end of business Tuesday my name is Miriam Masawa good night God bless you the buzz is up next