An Assesment Of The Adequacy Of Employer Assisted Housing Models In Selected Institutions Within Eldoret Town

Abstract

Eldoret town being one of the fastest growing agricultural and industrial town continue to face housing problems. This is evidenced in the proliferation of unplanned settlements within the town which are used to house migrants from the rural areas or other towns in search of formal employment, or those in employment but cannot afford better housing.Throughout its growth and development, the town has benefitted from many subsidized housing schemes including; NHC housing programmes, defunct Kenya Railway rental houses, Postal corperation housing schemes, site and service housing scheme, to mention just a few. Employers provided some of the best known housing subsidies in the Country through rental housing and other models to their employees. With increased urbanization, high cost of construction and high cost of housing finance, the employer housing benefits have dwindled; adequate and affordable housing for rental and purchase has remained merely a dream to majority of employees in formal employment within Eldoret town. Because of its growth rate and location, the town has attracted both investors and workers alike. Many studies have been conducted on housing in Kenya, in the African region and globally. However, these studies do not provide sufficient information on the adequacy of housing in Eldoret town and Kenya at large. It is against this background that this study was conducted to seek to find whether the employees in formal employment in Eldoret town both in the public and private sector were adequately housed, through different models of employer housing within the town and identify the challenges and opportunities in employer housing.

The study, which used a descriptive survey, had 20,829 residents of Eldoret town as the target population. A sample population of 384 respondents was calculated and stratified sampling method used to obtain the respective number of respondents in each stratum. The respondents from each stratum were selected using simple random sampling. Data was collected using a semi structured questionnaire which was pre-tested for reliability and validity during a pilot test. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistic and content analysis. The study found out that there are not only challenges in employeehousing in Eldoret but also opportunities. The employer housing are affordable to most employees, but in many cases not adequate. The study recommends the national policy implementation and adherence to set standards and laws in housing construction and maintenance