NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 21 — President William Ruto has announced that Kenya’s affordable housing programme is set to create an additional 572,000 job opportunities next year, up from the current 428,000 jobs.
Speaking during his State of the Nation Address to a joint sitting of Parliament on Thursday, Ruto said his administration is delivering the most extensive housing rollout in Kenya’s history, with 230,000 affordable homes already completed since the project began.
The President highlighted the wide range of professionals benefiting from the programme, including architects, engineers, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, masons, steelworkers, transporters, and thousands of MSMEs engaged in fittings, fabrication, and interior works. Ruto also criticized skeptics who once dismissed the housing plan as “fantasy.”
“Three years ago, when we said we would deliver affordable housing, the cynics dismissed it as a fantasy. When they realized we were serious, they called it impossible. And when we broke ground across the country, they suggested the projects would stall,” he said.
Student accommodation
To meet student accommodation needs, Ruto said 178,000 beds have been allocated to universities, TVETs, and KMTCs, with 74,000 already under construction, transforming a sector where previously fewer than 10 percent of students had decent housing.
The President framed the programme as more than just housing.
“It is a national empowerment engine creating jobs, formalizing the informal sector, revitalizing MSMEs, restoring our environment, and building resilient communities,” he said.
He noted that the programme advances equity, dignity, and sustainable development, values enshrined in Article 10 of the Constitution.
Ruto also highlighted that 276 markets are currently under construction, with another 175 underway, providing critical spaces for women and MSMEs.
In addition, through the Nairobi River regeneration programme, 44,000 youth have been engaged to restore the river corridor and prepare sites for 10,000 social homes along the renewed riverfront.
According to the President, both the jobs and student housing rollouts are part of a broader effort to grow the economy from the bottom up, giving workers income, students dignity, and ordinary Kenyans more livable communities.
