A Critical Evaluation Of The Right To Housing In Kenya

Abstract

The entrenchment of the right to housing in the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 (Article 43) was a new dawn to the majority of Kenyans, especially the low and medium earners. They had a hope of living in adequate and decent houses that secure their right to dignity. The right is also provided in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In spite of all these legal provisions on the right to adequate housing, the right remains a pipe dream. It is poorly implemented and widely violated. The number of people who are inadequately housed is increasing. This study will carry out an evaluation of the right to housing with an aim of establishing how it can be well implemented and enforced. The study will look at: an analysis of the right to housing, its violation, challenges to its implementation and enforcement, and the role of State and individual citizens. The study will advance an argument that there is poor understanding of the scope, nature and the content of the right to housing; the country has inadequate legal and policy framework to implement the right to housing; State has failed in its duty in realization of right to adequate housing; and that individual citizens and non-state actors have a role to play in actualization of the right to housing.. The study will analyze the existing laws, court cases and the existing literature on the right to housing to understand the nature of the right, inadequacy of the existing laws, violation of the right and how the right can be well implemented. The study will thereafter provide recommendations on how the right to housing can be actualized. The study aims to provide the government of Kenya and its citizen with a practical solution to the housing problem. The housing problem is traced to British colonial history in Kenya and it is a major problem today.