The government’s preferred approach to spur economic growth through the different priority pillars – agriculture, medium small and micro-enterprises, affordable housing, digital and creative economy and health – is by way of cooperatives, which have been designated as enablers.
Cooperatives have contributed to the growth of Kenya’s GDP and have provided resilience to members during sudden shocks as witnessed most recently with Covid-19. The housing pillar is expected to bridge the gap in demand and supply for affordable housing but there is need to institute an effective model to ensure affordability and sustainability.
The Africa Housing Yearbook 2023 has sobering statistics on housing trends in Kenya. Kenya’s demand of 250,000 housing units is only met with a supply of 50,000, leaving a deficit of 200,000 housing units. Furthermore, the low-income groups are underserved, with only two percent of the available units going to this group. Worker cooperatives could be that model to support bridging this gap.
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