BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 18. Kenya is currently
implementing the largest housing program on the African continent,
Kenyan President William Samoei Ruto said during the Leaders Summit
held as part of the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13)
in Baku, Trend
reports.
Speaking at the summit, Ruto thanked Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev for the hospitality and organization of the event.
“We are gathered here today in this magnificent country, at the
13th World Urban Forum in Baku, and I would like to express my
gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev for the warm reception and
hospitality shown to us,” he said.
Ruto stressed the global importance of addressing housing
challenges, noting that nearly every country faces housing
shortages and affordability issues.
“Statistics show that 3 billion people live in inadequate
housing conditions, 1 billion people live in slums, and 300 million
people are homeless,” he said. “These are not just cold statistics.
These are people. These are families. These are children.”
The Kenyan president noted that the right to housing is
guaranteed under Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, but said the scale of the global housing crisis has
undermined that principle.
Ruto said Kenya has 1,100 informal settlements housing about 7
million people, prompting the government to make housing a central
pillar of its national development agenda.
He identified three major obstacles to housing development in
Kenya: land accessibility, construction costs and financing.
According to Ruto, Kenya has built 273,000 housing units over
the past three years, with keys already handed over to 8,000
families.
“By the end of this year, another 55,000 families will receive
housing keys,” he said. “Currently, we have a project portfolio of
700,000 housing units.”
“I can confidently say that today Kenya is implementing the
largest housing program on the African continent,” Ruto added.
