Inadequate housing is a problem that has long been experienced in Homa Bay town due to various reasons such as inadequate cash flow and rapid population increase.
This has left many residents struggling to find safe and cheap residential houses including some civil servants who were unable to access government houses because they were inadequate.
According to the Director of Housing at the Ministry of Housing in Homa Bay, Nelson Achola, government properties were very few and could not sustain the high number of civil servants in the town.
“When one applies for a government accommodation, they have to wait for others who applied before them to be issued a house in case there is a vacancy; something that can keep them waiting for a very long time like even five years, ” said Achola.
He pointed out that because of inadequate housing in the region, landlords were charging exorbitantly to compensate for the construction expenses incurred in building permanent houses.
This has led to the majority of residents residing in informal settlements which are insecure and lack proper sanitation facilities.
In an interview in his office, Achola said that Homa Bay is expanding in terms of population and needs more houses constructed to cater for the increasing population.
According to Achola, the iron sheet houses in areas like Shauri Yako and others were not in the standard recommended by the Ministry of Housing.
“We are trying to discourage the slums as much as possible and the government has done the mapping of the slum areas for upgrading plans,” he disclosed
Achola further explained that there is a need for a multi-sectoral approach to curb the issue of housing affordability and availability in the town.
By Florence Owiti and Sitna Omar
