Kenyans Seeking to Buy Gov’t Cheap Houses asked to Pay Sh200 Monthly

Kenyans who have applied to purchase government-funded cheap houses have been asked to begin making payments of as low as Sh200 per month.

The State Department of Housing and Urban Development sent a text message to 270,854 Kenyans who have registered on Boma Yangu, an online portal that allows people to apply for homes that will be built under the government’s affordable housing scheme.

Aspiring homeowners were asked to make payments for housing units via their allocated individual account numbers on the platform via MPesa USSD platform.

“Dear…affordable and decent housing is now within your reach. Start by contributing from as low as Sh200! Update all your personal details by logging in to bomayangu.go.ke or dial *688#! Visit bomayangu.go.ke, hudumakenya.go.ke or your nearest Huduma Centre for more information,” the text message reads. 
Last week, Housing and Urban Development Principal Secretary Charles Hinga indicated that 14,800 of the total applicants were already making contributions.

PS Hinga revealed that the construction of the first batch of housing units in Nairobi’s Ngara Estate was completed and would be issued to at least 60 Kenyans who have paid up 12.5 percent of the total value of the units they are seeking to purchase. To qualify for allocation, contributors must have paid at least 12.5 percent of the unit value by the time of handover. In the Ngara project, a Chinese contractor is putting up a total of 1,370 housing units at a cost of Sh5 billion.

“The houses are complete, I have a completion certificate but the mechanism of transferring them is being finalized to pave way for the sale because we are holding all these houses on one title,” said PS Hinga.

“We’re currently trying to fine-tune and operationalize the process of how to hive out 228 sectional titles for apartment owners. Kenyans have been contributing as little as Sh300 per month.”

The balance of 87.5 percent of the value of the units for those taking mortgages will be funded by a financier that would charge a fee against the title of the house, PS Hinga said.

There are three ways in which Kenyans can get the houses namely; cash, mortgage, and tenant purchase. To be eligible for allocation, one is required to have registered with the Boma Yangu housing fund.