Housing Provision; Are The Low Income Earners Catered For? A Case Study Of Thika Town

Abstract

The development of commercial and industrial activities in the larger towns has brought large aggregation of all types of people in towns. However, since the main objective of this rural-urban drift is to acquire a job, the low income earners, simply referred to as the poor, are the majority. This aggregation has in turn created social, hygienic and economic problems which are increasingly becoming acute. At the root of these problems, the major one is housing. The evil effects of bad housing and inadequate housing can scarcely be exaggerated. The physical, moral and mental consequences of slum conditions are.vastly expensive to the community as a whole in terms of human suffering, sicknesses and death, impaired efficiency and on the lowest level hard cash. The study focused on the housing conditions among the Thika's low income earners. The case of Thika as per the research findings,was observed to follow the same trend as of any other town as far as housing is concerned. The aim of the study was to find out whether services and requirements related to shelter have been achieved and the data analysis in chapter three showed that housing conditions are poor among the poor people of Thika town. The issue then is, who is responsible for these poor people's housing after all is said and done?