A significant number of Kenyans have doubts that they will acquire houses through President William Ruto’s Housing Fund, which was recently implemented under the Finance Act.
This is according to a poll conducted by Trends and Insights For Africa (TIFA), which shows that 54 percent of respondents said they do not expect to get a house.
Out of the 1,530 respondents interviewed by TIFA, only 11 percent expressed expectations of acquiring a govt house. 15 percent of the participants said they possibly will or will not get a house, while 16 percent were unsure.
“Expectations are markedly shaped by political alignment, however, with five times more government supporters certain they will get a house (20 per cent) as compared to opposition supporters (4 per cent),” TIFA says in the poll released Tuesday.
The survey also showed that a significant majority of Kenyans, comprising 69 percent, are opposed to the housing levy.
Additionally, 54 percent of government supporters are against the levy while 84 percent of opposition supporters oppose it.
“Among Kenyans as a whole, only one-quarter express support the housing fund programme at 24 per cent,” the report says.
“To a large extent, such opinions are more a reflection of political alignment than of the details of the programme itself,” TIFA adds.
The nationwide survey was conducted from June 23 to June 30, involving 1,530 respondents. The data collection method employed Computer Assisted-Telephonic-Interviews (CATI), and the survey carried a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percent.
TIFA conducted the interviews across nine zones, namely Central Rift, Coast, Lower Eastern, Mt Kenya, Nairobi, Northern, Nyanza, South Rift, and Western.
The objective of the poll was to ascertain the current state of the economy as experienced and perceived by Kenyans.
The research firm also established that only three percent of Kenyans earn a monthly income exceeding Ksh. 50,000. 38 percent of Kenyans reported not having a monthly income, while 12 percent indicated earning less than Ksh. 5,000.
