President William Ruto recently claimed that his Kenya Kwanza administration has generated over 250,000 jobs for youth through the Affordable Housing project.
He shared this figure during the 11th National and County Governments Coordinating Summit at State House, Nairobi, where he said the project’s potential is to address Kenya’s growing unemployment crisis.
“To date, the programme has generated 250,000 direct jobs, with thousands more emerging through the building and construction value chain that supports housing development,” said President Ruto.
However, this figure has sparked debate, as data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) paints a more cautious picture of the construction sector’s employment.
According to May 2025 report by KNBS, cement consumption — a key indicator of construction activity — fell by 7.2 percent to 8.54 million metric tonnes in 2024.
Employment in the sector also dipped slightly, from 226,300 workers in 2023 to 223,400 in 2024, contradicting construction jobs the President had mentioned.
The Affordable Housing Programme is funded through a 2.75 percent mandatory payslip deduction from roughly 3.1 million formally employed Kenyans.
Inflation on construction materials and related inputs averaged 2.83 percent in 2024, up from 2.30 percent in 2023, further straining project finances.
Also Read: Ruto’s Trip to India Yields 5 Deals Including Affordable Housing Units
Policy Interventions to Reduce Construction Costs
The government is exploring several measures aimed at reducing production costs and reviving sector momentum.
This includes the proposed reduction of Export Promotion Levies (EPL) on critical steel imports, which is outlined in the Finance Bill 2025.
“I plan that by 2027, we will have 500,000 people working in the programme,” said the President.
The EPL was introduced in 2023 by the current administration as part of efforts to promote local manufacturing, currently imposes a 17.5 percent levy on various steel products.
But in response to rising material costs and sluggish construction activity, the Finance Bill is addressing this levy by cutting it to 5 percent on select semi-finished and semi-processed steel products, including hot-worked bars, rods, and hot-rolled flat iron products.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi believes this adjustment could revitalize the construction and manufacturing sectors by improving the affordability and accessibility of essential raw materials.
He argues that the move will provide a timely boost to the Affordable Housing Programme, which has so far delivered its first 5,000 units to the public.
