Thread by @MarigaWangombe

An article and thread by @dnahinga on affordable housing has led me down a rabbit hole imagining a day when I'll be able to buy a house in Kenya without looting, massive loans, killing, mismanagement or doing all four through becoming president.

*THREAD*

Here's the article that inspired the thought. It left me with more questions than answers but that's why I liked it - it leaves us with a lot of thinking to do.

ub.co.ke/index.php/2018…

So what is affordable housing? What does affordable housing mean to you based on your current economic (mis) fortune depending on which side your tender is buttered?

What would you be able to pay for a house every month if we had rent- ownership/ mortgage arrangements according to our payment abilities?

This brings up several things:
1. What is affordable housing? 2. Is it a solid enough term to define what we need? 3. If not, what other words can we use and what impact would they have?

Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a median household income as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability inde

- basic Wikipedia definition (which differs from the article's definition)

So what exactly is Kenya's median household income and how would that be measured factoring in the costs of living in different towns? We are used to using the average income but what do most people in Kenya earn?

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics numbers is exist but though I think they do data collection well, some of their interpretations of the numbers are doubtful e.g their 7% unemployment rate so let's make a wild guess.

Let's assume most Kenyans earn 30,000 shs per month, right?

What does affordable housing mean for people in that salary bracket? How many government projects are geared towards that salary scale?

Let's assume that the average middle class family is earning 50-70,000 shs per month?

How does one afford a house in Kenya?

What house can you own and where? With our mortgage rates pretty high even at 14%, how are people to build homes?

I remember when Nyayo Estate houses were being built and I wished I had the money for such "affordable houses"

They were going for 6.5M which was as good as you were going to get in this is economy but how is that the best that the government can do?

My late dad was able to buy a house in Komarock by his 30's with an okay salary... Where are we supposed to buy houses now? Is it even a dream or stupidity to own a house in the current Kenyan economy?

Even at a 100,000 gross salary estimate,net=70,000. Your rent is 20,000, transport-6000, electricity+water+ utilities=5000, airtime+Internet=5,000,food=7,000
Entertainment=5,000
You're at 50,000 in spending easy.

This is assuming you don't have school fees to pay or SACCO loans

This is assuming you don't get sick, you don't help pay school fees for your younger siblings, you don't send money home to your parents, you're not investing in yet another pyramid scheme, you don't have kids and that you're not paying nani's rent, too.

Most people have under 10,000 shs left by the end of the month and most people have no savings. They are living month to month and can't afford to get sick or even die.

So how exactly do you solve a problem like that?

Even with NHC's current attempt at "affordable housing" they're just a bit less exploitative than commercial sellers.

What we need is middle income and low income housing projects. The desperation for housing has led to the easy penetration of cons and more are yet to come. The increase in costs of basic living means that we look a little less into the fine print.

People are now in their 40's with most struggling to pay rent and fees and hopefully one day retire upcountry, which they'll start developing at 50, if they have the spare money. If not, they'll depend on their children for financial support

This also brings the question of why we need to own homes and whether renting is just the way to go for the rest of our lives at this rate

People look at rent as money down the drain but ignore what you're actually paying for when you're in that house- security, rest, safety, a place where your children grow up and a lot of invaluable benefits a house provides

It's not money down the drain.

Are there rent-ownership plans which have you pay 20,000 shs with a visible house you can see and touch and are not owned by a Kikuyu televangelist?😂 Is that the solution to our housing problems?

We have laws including the rent control act and another that should govern margins made on houses* but these laws are just pieces of paper it seems?

Everyone tells you to move out of Nairobi. Everyone has no idea how you're going to make money in your particular field when most of these opportunities are still centred in Nairobi.

Are there thoughts of inventives that the government can give to private developers to motivate them to build low cost and middle- income?

What are options for affordable housing in a country that doesn't care about you?

By the time the interest rate cap came into play, some bank interest rates were close to 30%

The rate cap is coming off soon. The interest rates will skyrocket soon.

SACCOs are a better interest option at 12% but that's still really expensive. Talking about housing makes me realize how this touches on the cost of credit, regulation of banks and SACCOs and so many other things. Country leadership affects every aspect of your life

I would like to buy/ build a house but my bank account admires my imagination.

If there's a wealthy person with lots of money reading this, I'm accepting donations.

RT my house sponsor could be on your TL.

I'm waiting for the "build in your rural home" crowd who spend millions of shillings in houses they use once a year and depending on how long they've lived in the city, won't even retire in😁

Update to this: most Kenyans earn around 6,000 shs. I would love to see the overlay between that and home ownership because you could earn 5,000 but live in your rural home and have a farm

What do you call home?

Who taught us to separate the concept of a home and a house? Maybe it's time to rethink that..