Prefabricated housing scheme to ease home ownership

By Morris Aron

It is now possible for individuals to buy prefabricated houses through bank mortgage facilities or loans from co-operative societies.

The development follows the launch of first prefab housing scheme with insurance cover in Nairobi.

The move gives a leeway to financial institutions to offer mortgage against prefabricated houses under an arrangement that brings together Afrohomes — a venture capital firm, National Co-operative Housing Union, Co-operative Insurance Company (CIC) and Kenya Commercial Bank’s mortgage subsidiary, Savings and Loan (S&L).

Wide-scale adoption

Speaking at the groundbreaking for the project in Mlolongo, Co-operatives Assistant Minister Linah Kilimo said wide-scale adoption of prefabricated technology would help reduce housing costs and ease the shortage in housing units.

"Only through such technologies can we ensure that Kenyans live in their own houses," said Ms Kilimo.

The houses are built using Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) already in use in the US and the Middle East to construct houses. This technology reduces by up to 20 per cent the cost of putting up a house compared to the conventional brick and mortar.

Homeowners will also save on time because it takes just days to assemble the slabs once the housing plan has been approved.

Co-operative Assistant Minister Linah Chebii Kilimo lays a foundation stone for 300 houses at Prestige Park in Mlolongo. Photo: Jenipher Wachie/Standard

The panels — usually thinner than the ordinary blocks — are made using SIP technology, which is already certified by Kenya Bureau of Standards. Fibre cement boards are put under high pressure bonding process that allows them to withstand winds with speed of over 110 meters per second.

"The new technology allows buyers to choose from a variety of housing designs according to their personal tastes while using a technology that substantially cuts down the cost of housing," said Tony Gichuru, a director with Afrohomes.

Under the scheme, members of the National Co-operative Housing Union will secure loans to buy houses the same way one applies for a loan from a Sacco by raising a certain number of guarantors.

But the scheme is also open to non-members who can secure loans from KCB’s S&L mortgage firm to purchase the houses in an arrangement made possible by the CIC’s insurance cover to the houses.

Previously, financiers were reluctant to offer loans against prefabs due to lack of insurance cover and quality warranties.

"This breakthrough adds to the growing number of appropriate building technologies that have been introduced in the country to increase affordable homes to Kenyans," said Francis Kamande, the chairman of the Co-operative Housing Union.

The project will see the construction of 300 housing units on Mombasa Road at just over a Sh1 billion and later replicated countrywide.

This is the first time such a scheme is being developed in Sub-Saharan Africa.