President William Ruto has announced that civil servants will begin contributing 3% of their earnings to a Housing Fund.
Speaking on Sunday at a church service in Donholm Nairobi, the Head of State stated that this is part of a plan that the State will soon implement.
According to Ruto, the contribution will assist civil servants in purchasing homes built under the Affordable Housing Project.
“To enable many Kenyans buy houses under the affordable housing project, we have a housing fund to which we want every Kenyan to contribute 3 percent of their income. If you earn Sh10, 000, 3 percent is Sh300 every month goes towards the fund,” Ruto said.
He further said that Kenyans will contribute the funds on a monthly basis.
“Every employee who saves 3 percent with the Housing Fund, the law will require their employer to also save 3 percent,” Ruto said.
The President stated that nearly 700,000 civil servants will be the first to begin saving through the Housing Fund.
“Every civil servant who will save 3 per cent from their income will get 3 per cent of their salary from the government every month so that we can create a fund that will assist the people of Kenya to acquire homes,” Ruto said.
The President also stated that there are currently only 40,000 mortgages in the country, despite the fact that there should be up to 2 million mortgages to account for the size of the economy.
According to Ruto, many Kenyans live in informal settlements and need to improve the quality of their housing.
As part of his affordable housing project, Ruto plans to construct up to 100,000 houses in Nairobi.
He stated that the affordable housing project will also provide youth with job opportunities.
