Sacco to tap Sh3b affordable housing funding

Harambee Sacco board chairman Macloud Malonza (right) with CEO Dr.George Ochiri (left) at a past Annual General Meeting in July 2019. [File, Standard]

Harambee Sacco is set to receive Sh3 billion from the Kenya Mortgage Refinancing Company (KMRC) for onward lending to members to build new homes.

Board Chairman Macloud Malonza said the Sacco will start disbursing the loans as early as February next year.

“The regulations are out and in February, members will start getting the money. The interest rates will be less than 10 per cent,” said Malonza.

He was speaking in Nakuru during a tour of some of the Sacco projects. Mr Malonza said the Sacco, which gives out up to Sh16 billion in loans a year, is optimistic that the additional funds will assist members put up about 3,500 housing units.

The move is expected to provide a major boost to the State’s affordable housing project that targets to put up half a million houses by 2022.

Harambee Sacco has over 80,000 members in 174 branches across the country.

It draws its membership mainly from the Kenya Defence Forces, the National Police Service, the National Youth Service, the national and county governments, government parastatals and departments and constitutional bodies.

The Sacco’s chief executive officer George Ochiri said the Sh3 billion will be strictly disbursed to fund construction of housing units for domestic purposes. Households earning less than Sh150,000 per month had for many years been locked out of the mortgage market due to high housing prices on offer and short repayment period for loans.

KMRC has so far mobilised about Sh40 billion.