| dc.description.abstract | The housing market process is a slow and
inefficient method of increasing the national housing
stock, and in providing shelter fpr all income groups.
For this reason Governments and other actors in urban
housing have designed methods of intervention in the
operations of the urban housing markets, so as to
accelerate and control their performance. This is
necessary due to the fact that there is relatively
large housing shortage in urban areas in Kenya.
Subsidising housing is one of the approaches used
to interfere with the housing market so as to lower
the rent and, or the price of houses.
There are various subsidy programs in existence
in Kenya. The principal ones are through public rental
schemes, employer housing, owner occupier housing,
staff mortgage schemes of banking and financial
institution employees, ,and other financial institution
programs as in housing bonds. The programs above
are seen to mainly benefit the high and middle income groups.
The subsidised housing programs meant for low income
groups are found to be mainly in squatter upgrading
and site and service schemes. It is the general view
of the government of Kenya and international aid
bodies that housing subsidies should be discontinued,
or at least be minimised.
The aim of this study was to examine the existing
subsidy programs in Kenya so as to find out 'to what
extent housing subsidies address the problem of
housing shortage most felt by the urban poor.The
study will be able to show whether the above view
of eliminating or minising subsidies should be
encouraged, whether there are measures which can
be undertaken to improve the delivery and administration
of existing subsidy programs for all income groups
and to find if it is only the low income groups
who should continue to be subsidised. It is apparent
from the various subsidy programs studted that most
of the programs benefit the high and middle income
groups. Even in these, discrimination exists in
the distribution and in the amounts of the subsidies.
In any country, it is the low income who need assistance if they are to live in conventional housing. However,
in Kenya, only a few programs benefit a small percentage
of them. Most of the programs meant for the urban poor
(same as low income groups earning Ksh. 0-2,000 per
month) seem to benefit the middle and high income
groups as well. If subsidised shelter is to
benefit the urban poor, it should-be delivered
in such a way so as to reach them without benefitting
the other income groups since it is the low income
groups who need assistance if they are to live in
conventional housing. The subsidy should be fairly
distributed and given in the right amounts.
There are two parts to this study. The first
part comprises the introductory chapters generally
covering the introductory formalities which include
among others, the study objectives, research
methodology, and related literature. This part reviews
subsidy programs in both developed and developing
countries to find out the various subsidy forms,
administration of the subsidy and to what extent
the subsidy benefits the target groups. The second
part consists of chapter three which examined subsidised
programs in Kenya, chapter four in which data collected
from the field survey is analysed and finally chapter
five, which deals with the summary of conclusions
and recommendations. The conclusions are based on
the findings of the subsidy programs in Kenya and
field survey. It is evident that housing subsidies
for the low income groups should not be done away
with. They should instead, be administered and
delivered in such a way that they will benefit the
majority of the urban poor. If the subsidising
authorities are to do away with subsidies, they
should do so to the subsidies for the high and middle
income groups who even without the subsidy can afford
conventional housing. | en |
