[PHOTOS] Ruto takes housing project to Gachagua's backyard

Nyeri residents will soon have a taste of the Affordable Housing cake.

This is after President William Ruto on Friday laid the foundation for the construction of Nyeri Blue Valley Affordable Housing.

The project is set to provide 320 housing units.

Ruto was accompanied by his Deputy Rigathi Gachagua, Cabinet Secretary for Housing Alice Wahome and other Mt Kenya leaders.

The AHP has been billed as a programme that will solve the country's housing crisis while providing jobs to about a million people a year.

The housing pillar of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) not only aims to improve the quality of life for people but also serves as an economic stimulus, promoting enterprise growth and job creation.

In the 2023-24 financial year, the government allocated Sh35.2 billion towards the Housing program.

The government has also mobilised resources to support the construction of affordable housing units and social housing units.

As part of the housing budget, Sh3.2 billion will go towards the affordable housing programme.

The overall target by the President is to construct 200,000 affordable housing units annually which will create between 600,000 and one million jobs each year.

However, the project has suffered some setbacks.

A three-judge bench of the High Court consisting of Justices David Majanja, Christine Meoli and Lawrence Mugambi on November 28, declared the housing levy unconstitutional.

They, however, allowed a state prayer to grant stay orders until January 10, 2024, pending an appeal.

However, on January 3, the court ordered that the government will continue collecting housing levy awaiting the court's decision on the same on January 26, 2024.

This is after a three-judge bench of the Court of Appeal ordered that the status quo be maintained until the aforementioned date when a decision will be made on whether the directives will be quashed or extended.

"In the meantime, the status quo obtaining as of today shall be maintained until the delivery of the ruling," the court order dated January 3, reads in part.

200 per constituency project

The government already rolled out the affordable housing programme’s 200 per constituency project as promised by President Ruto in 2023.

In June, the Head of State announced that 178 out of 290 sub-counties had been given the green light to construct the units.

Housing Principal Secretary Charles Hinga noted that all 290 constituencies have land available for the affordable housing programme.