National Housing Corporation Programmes: The case of kibera housing schemes.

Abstract

The aim of this research was to explore if the designers' intentions were met in housing schemes done by the National Housing Corporation (NHC). The study basically used NHC housing schemes in Kibera as case studies for the housing evaluation (HE) exercise. The mismatch between the designer intentions and the user needs was thereby explored. Through a literature review and empirical studies the author has tried to identify how widespread the use of Housing Evaluation is as a design tool in the housing industry in Kenya, with particular reference to NHC which is the government's implementing agency of housing policy. The receptiveness of the producer-stakeholder to the user-stakeholder input has been considered key in this work. This research explores recent developments in housing evaluation and then proceeds to apply stakeholder analysis to the HE. It endeavors to progress work in the HE field by utilising the prescribed methodology. The methodology chosen for the research was derived from the qualitative paradigm, with analysis being undertaken of user and producer stakeholders of existing housing projects done by NHC, in Kibera. It developed the proposed techniques by observing the interactions of the users and producers of the housing schemes in a detailed manner and clearly demonstrated that there is a mismatch between the designer intentions and user needs. The study has shown how feasible a stakeholder analysis is, for NHC as a public housing instituion, as it establishes a link between the designers and the users. This study, by observing the user and producer relationship in the housing industry in a detailed manner, has also identified areas for further research.